The intersection of Mill Street and Crane Avenue will be reconfigured over the next several months. The project was designed by Westfield’s Tighe & Bond.
Reminder Publishing submitted photo
WESTFIELD — Work on a reconfiguration of the Mill Street and Crane Avenue intersection and the installation of new sidewalks and bicycle lanes extending south on Southwick Road from Cowles Bridge will begin in the next month or so.
“This came out of the Shared Street and Spaces Program,” said DPW Director Randy Brown about the project.
The program provides funding for the design and implementing changes to curbs, streets, and parking areas in support of public health, safe mobility, and community growth and revitalization.
“This is to expand the city’s multi-modal network,” he said, which focuses on promoting sidewalks and bicycle lanes that increase pedestrian and bicyclist safety.
The sidewalks on Southwick Road will start on the east side of the road connecting to the sidewalk installed when Cowles Bridge was replaced and will extend to nearly where Dug Road intersects with Southwick Road, according to plans of the project designed by Tighe & Bond.
Because of the businesses along the west side of the road, there will be a crosswalk that will be installed along the edge of parking lot of the China Start restaurant at 36 Southwick Road. It will include flashing pedestrian-activated warning lights at both entrances.
The crosswalk will then extend across Hundred Acres Road, again with flashing pedestrian-activated warning lights, and continue in front of Puffers Salon & Day Spa at 56 Southwick Road.
It continues south across the entrance to Jelly Belly’s Pool & Spa and then reverts to sidewalk. Where it changes over, a crosswalk will be installed to cross Southwick Road and pick up the sidewalk that will connect the one installed during the bridge construction on the west side of the road in front of Yankee Village Plaza.
A bike lane will be marked along the sidewalks’ edges on both sides of Southwick Road.
On Mill Street, Brown said about a dozen trees will be planted starting at the Crane Avenue intersection and sidewalks on the east side of it will be repaired.
The sidewalk installed along Mill Street during the bridge project will be connected with a new sidewalk that will extend northeast following the edge of Crane Street and stop at about the edge of The Mill at Crane Pond building.
There will also be a sidewalk installed on the west side of Mill Street starting at Crane Avenue and continuing to the existing crosswalk in front of the Genesis Spiritual Center.
There will also be new crosswalk striping painted where Vadnais, Paper and Oak streets and Oak and Leonard avenues intersect with Mill Street.
The reconfiguration of the Mill Street and Crane Avenue intersection will include removing the traffic island and making it more of a “T” intersection. A stop sign will be installed at the end of Crane Street.
Brown said the $900,000 project is being paid for with a $250,000 grant with the city picking up the rest using part of its annual allocation of Chapter 90 funds.
It should be finished by mid-summer, he said.
