WESTFIELD – More than 40 residents of residential streets off the Main Street corridor turned out last night at the South Middle School to hear details of the city’s road reconstruction project and to voice their concerns about some aspects of that plan.
The city is initiating a two phase road reconstruction project, which will include other infrastructure, especially in support of the proposed elementary school at the intersection of Cross and Ashley streets and construction of a new senior center on Noble Street.
The project has been divided into two phases, with phase 1, related to improvements needed to support to the proposed elementary school construction project, and phase 2 which will support infrastructure improvements related to construction of a new Senior Center on Noble Street.
Phase 1 includes improvements to Cross, Ashley, State streets, Taylor Avenue and a section of East Silver Street at the intersection of Cross Street. During phase 1 the existing water lines under Cross and a section of Ashley streets will be replaced, sidewalks installed on both sides of those streets, over-head utilities buried in conduit along Cross Street and the streets paved.
The area is currently served by four-inch water mains which will be replaced along Cross Street by a 12-inch main to provide fire protection to the new school and an eight-inch main under Ashley Street between Cross and State streets.
Phase two will include road, curb, and sidewalk improvements and, in some cases, water main upgrades to Frederick, East Silver, George, Frederick, Noble, and Cycle streets, Cleveland, Parkside and Lozier avenues, and Lindbergh Boulevard.
Water main upgrades will be made to Frederick, George, Noble and East Silver streets, and to Clinton and Parkside avenues.
City Engineer Mark Cressotti, Tighe & Bond Senior Project Manager Rebecca Sherer and Project Engineer Jeremy Cigal presented details of the $6 million road reconstruction project. Water line improvements account for $2.5 million of the total cost estimate.
“The city for the past decade and a half has been addressing infrastructure in the downtown neighborhoods where there is a greater population density,” Cressotti said. “While we were improving the roads, we’ve been looking at other utilities upgrades, such as water, looking at sidewalks and streetscapes.
“This is the sixth or seventh projects of this type,” Cressotti said. “It has been an enhancement to downtown neighborhoods and people have been following through and doing improvements to their homes.”
“These infrastructure needs are real and don’t go away. The city needs to reinvest in its neighborhoods,” Cressotti said.
Residents expressed a number of concerns with a number of speakers citing vehicular and pedestrian safety as the primary concern. One issue was the speed of vehicles passing through those neighborhoods.
The plan included a number of controversial “traffic calming” options such as raised islands at intersections and rumble stripss along the heavily traveled residential roads such as Noble Street and Lindbergh Boulevard.
One speaker asked that the former railroad bridge on East Silver Street be kept in place to reduce truck access to the area.
Others suggested limiting on-street parking to prevent parked cars from choking the streets. The plan to install curbs will prevent residents from parking on the treebelt, adding to the existing congestion caused by parked vehicles.
Another major issue is pedestrian safety which is related to the senior citizen population in Ward 2 and construction of the senior center. Part of that issue is a plan to remove a number of existing trees which have damaged existing sidewalks and the roadways.
Several speakers requested that existing sidewalks be extended along both sides of the street, while other residents asked for raised crosswalks, similar to the downtown table-top crosswalks, be installed at senior housing complexes and the new senior center to slow traffic and increase pedestrian safety.
