MARK CRESSOTTI
WESTFIELD – The Flood Control Commission supports the city’s desire to construct a multi-use trail on top of the Westfield River Levee that will strengthen the flood control structure.
The Westfield River Levee protects a large area of the downtown, stretching from Williams Riding Way off Meadow Street in the east to Congress Street, off Route 20 where Franklin Street transitions into Russell Road on the west.
City Engineer Mark Cressotti presented details of the multi-use trail project to the Flood Control Commission members last night.
Commission Chairman Albert G. Giguere Jr., said that board “is all for it” because the trail will improve the structure of the levee.
“If the city has access to DOT (Department of Transportation) funding for paving the top of the levee it makes it more stable instead of the (present) dirt top which erodes and disintegrates,” Giguere said. “And another use for the levee is good.”
Cressotti said this morning that the Westfield River Project is still years from being a viable project and that the city is intent on completing construction of the Columbia Greenway Rail Trail project before the levee project “gets up a head of steam.”
The Greenway project is projected to be completed over the next three years and will intersect with the levee trail at the former railroad bridge crossing the Westfield River.
Cressotti said the city has spent $26,000 on the “conceptual design of the multi-use trail which has been submitted to the Project Review Committee at the state Department of Transportation.”
“The committee only meets two or three times a year. They are the body which initiates funding for projects,” Cressotti said. “They’re meeting later this month and if they decide in favor of the project, it gets put on the DOT list for funding.”
Cressotti said the city is responsible for the design phase of the project, engineering work being performed by Tighe & Bond of Southampton Road.
“We just appropriated another $50,000 from the city’s Chapter 90 funding to advance the engineering work,” Cressotti said. “We have to get to the 25 percent design, and then the DOT will conduct a public hearing on the project.”
Cressotti said that he anticipates the multi-use levee trail will be completed in phases to spread the construction cost, estimated at $5 million, over a number of funding years. The Columbia Greenway trail is being completed on that same phased model.
“A multi-use trail will only add mass and structure to the levee to make it stronger and better capable of resisting water pressure during a flood,” Cressotti said. “The DOT requirement for levees is that levees be 16-feet wide. We only have 10 feet. The trail project, which may include retaining walls, will add height and widen the crest.”
