WESTFIELD – The Legislative & Ordinance Committee will give the City Council a positive recommendation to approve an order of taking of easements needed for the Little River Road (Route 187) improvement project.
The Route 187 improvement project was divided into three phases because of the estimated $16 million price tag to upgrade the pavement and drainage systems. Phase 1, Feeding Hills Road, is substantially complete and the state Department of Transportation plans to advertise Phase 2, Little River Road, later this month in anticipation of a spring start of that construction effort.
The city needs to secure five permanent easements and a number of temporary easements before the DOT can advertise the project.
City Engineer Mark Cressotti appeared before the L&O Tuesday night to explain where the easements are required. Cressotti said the easement funding, $19,360, was included in a bond approved by the City Council nearly a decade ago for the design, engineering and environmental permitting of the road improvement project.
Cressotti said the scope of work is on the section of Little River Road between Tow Path Lane and a point just east of Sherman’s Mill Bridge over Great Brook. The work includes stormwater drainage improvements, installation of sewers and creation of a dedicated westbound left turn lane at the intersection of Shaker Road where a new traffic signal will be installed.
“We need to certify the right of way so the DOT can proceed with advertising the project,” Cressotti said.
The third and final phase is the relocation and construction of a bridge over Great Brook. The present bridge, at the bottom of Pontoosic Road, will be demolished and a new bridge will be constructed north of that intersection, closer to Old Feeding Hills Road.
At-large Councilor Matthew VanHeynigen, a member of the L&O, asked Cressotti to describe how the project will impact residents.
“Property owners on the inside of the curve in the area by the traffic signal will see the biggest impact,” Cressotti said. “The design has gone through a number of iterations. The original design was based on federal speed guidelines which increase the impact.”
“We’ve reduced the speed through that intersection which has brought the curb back off lawns,” Cressotti said. “The existing right of way is so wide that it reduces the amount of property being taken, but people are used to having that wider lawn area, have been maintaining lawns on city property, so there is that impact.”
Cressotti said his department had the appraisals performed and the documents were then reviewed by the Law Department which drafted the order of takings for the easements.
Cressotti said that residents of that area, especially those living in the Ridgecrest Drive neighborhood, requested installation of a traffic signal at the intersection of Ridgecrest Drive and Little River Road.
“That issue was identified too late in the Little River Road improvement project to be included, but we do plan to do a traffic study to determine if that should be included (as a change order) while the road work is ongoing, if we can find the funding for the impact study,” Cressotti said.
