AGAWAM — The City Council voted unanimously on Sept. 4 to accept $949,999 in Community Development Block Grant funds from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities for infrastructure repairs to Moore Street and Valley Street.
In an interview, Mayor Christopher Johnson said the money will be used to fund phase one of the project, which is design, engineering and construction on Moore Street. The specific improvements include reclaiming the pavement and gravel, then installing new blacktop. Moore Street will also get new curbings, which he said are essentially to the road draining properly.
“Hoping, obviously, that we’ll be able to get a further CDBG for the Valley Street portion of the project,” he said.
Johnson said the town likely applied a year ago for the competitive federal grant. Every year, the town identifies projects it can use the grant to fund, projects he said are larger in scope than can be handled through the normal budget process.
“We qualified to get this one,” he said. “We obviously try to access as much state and/or federal funds as we can.”
On Sept. 4, councilors showed enthusiasm for the grant.
“This is a competitive grant that the town has to fight for with all the other communities in Massachusetts. Really proud to see that we won such a large dollar amount,” said Councilor Anthony Suffriti.
Councilor George Bitzas thanked Johnson and the administration for the grant, and said the town should keep its eyes and ears open for federal and state money.
Councilor Dino Mercadante said that Agawam has turned a corner since “we’ve gotten Eversource off the roads.” He listed projects the town has finished at Springfield Street, the intersection near the Morgan-Sullivan Bridge and North Street, and said the May Hollow culvert replacement is “on the way.”
“Now, we’re starting to work on these neighborhoods and the people down in that area really deserve to have their infrastructure bought up to date. So, I’m really, really happy that under this administration, we’re getting a lot done,” he said.
Now that the City Council has accepted the grant, the design phase can begin. Johnson said that will probably go into 2025. He hopes construction and completion of the construction will happen then, as well.
