WESTFIELD – City Engineer Mark Cressotti and Department of Public Works Director David Billips talked this week about several projects underway in Westfield; one of the most visible being the construction on Western Avenue.
“They’re proceeding with the construction, and coming to a conclusion on a lot of stuff there,” Cressotti said. He said they’ve made visible progress, are getting in the curbing, and will be paving shortly. He said he has not had an update lately on the schedule from the state, because they haven’t been meeting due to the COVID-19 shutdown.
Cressotti said a number of projects are in development, including the eastern phase of Western Avenue, which is at 75% design; the Columbia Greenway central section, Cowles Bridge, and the Westfield River Levee multi-trail.
He said they are looking to set up a date for a public hearing on the Westfield River Levee project in July. “We’re moving on to 75% design plans. We need to achieve it as soon as possible, so I can start to get the project on the funding program,” Cressotti said.
Billips said, being the end of the fiscal year, his department is waiting for budgets to be approved. He said after they know what money they will be working with, they will sit down with engineering to look at jobs they can accomplish.
Billips said the Crescent Circle job will start at the end of June. He said a stormwater pipe collapsed there a few years ago, and they will be going out there to fix that and fix damage to the property that’s out there.
Billips said they are waiting on the Department of Environmental Protection to get Wells 7 & 8 online, and are hoping to have them running by next week or the week after, and to get final approval from the DEP to have them full on by the end of June at the latest.
“The filters are removing everything it’s supposed to. It’s removing all the PFAS; everything is non-detect,” Billips said. He said they had some issues during construction with the building and alarm systems, which are in the process of being tested, but no issues with the vessels themselves.
“We’ll certainly make an announcement when we start it up, so people know it’s running,” Billips said.
