City and state officials gathered for a groundbreaking ceremony celebrating the “X” reconstruction project, which is officially underway.
Reminder Publishing photo by Ryan Feyre
SPRINGFIELD — One of Springfield’s largest roadway projects in the city’s history is officially underway.
City and state officials gathered outside the main entrance of Forest Park on May 21 to celebrate the start of the $27.5 million “X” reconstruction project, a roadway initiative over 10 years in the making.
“It’s finally coming to fruition,” said Mayor Domenic Sarno.
Early construction of the project began in March 2025 with installation of advanced traffic signage, survey work, mobilization to the site, preliminary utility investigation and tree and vegetation removal.
During the groundbreaking, DPW Director Chris Cignoli, the city and MassDOT said they are now ready to embark on utility work on all of the impacted streets, including drainage, water and gas upgrades.
“Everything underground here is 80 or 90 years old,” Cignoli told Reminder Publishing. “Virtually everything underground is getting replaced.”
Sarno said the entire “X” project will be done in phases, with drainage construction happening between summer 2025 and summer 2026; water line construction between 2026 and 2027; electric and conduit work between 2028-2029; and roadway construction in summer 2029.
When completed, which officials hope will be in 2030, the project will fix what many in the city say is an antiquated section of Springfield, where a tattered pavement, lack of bike lanes and “awful” pedestrian crossings are exacerbated by a growth of vehicles on the road, as well as an increase in accidents and motorists speeding.
Reconstruction of the roadway, encompassing Sumner Avenue at Dickinson Street and Belmont Avenue, will include the addition of transition lanes, new traffic signals and traffic signal coordination; 5-foot bicycle lanes plus widening and reconstruction of sidewalks to shared-use paths; pedestrian facility and accessibility upgrades; as well as replacement of street lighting, furnishings and landscaping.
According to the state website, the project begins at the Sumner Avenue intersection with Churchill Street and continues 3,400 feet east to the intersection with Daytona Street. The Belmont Avenue project limits begin just northwest of its intersection with Burlington Street and continue 1,650 feet south to the intersection with Ormond Street. Meanwhile, the Dickinson Street segment begins at the intersection with Burlington Street and runs south 1,050 feet to the intersection with Cliftwood Street.
Aside from those areas, the project will also affect Lenox Street, Ormond Street, Burlington Street, Oakland Street and Commonwealth Avenue, the state website says.
According to the city, no roundabouts will be constructed.
“By far, this is probably the largest roadway project we’ve done in the city since we did State Street [Corridor Project],” Cignoli said at a spring public meeting. “We’re doing this [project] to get speeds down, and we’re doing it to make it safer.”
According to city officials, the roads and businesses impacted by the project will stay open during construction. Cignoli said there may be a few instances where the city might need to close one of the smaller residential streets for work, but for the most part, everything will operate as needed.
“We … will make sure that our roads are in working order to make sure people can get through the area here,” Cignoli said. “We have businesses that need to stay open and need to operate, so we’re going to make sure from a construction standpoint everything is taken care of.”
Among the officials in attendance for the groundbreaking were City Councilors Kateri Walsh and Brian Santaniello, along with MassDOT Operational Engineer Matt Minihan and Director of Parks, Buildings and Recreation Management Tom Ashe.
Walsh, who lives right near the construction area, said that getting to this point in the project was not always easy, but recent citizen participation has allowed the city and MassDOT to make “great changes” to the project to better reflect what residents want.
“I think we’re all looking forward to Sumner Avenue being safer, being able to take a left,” Walsh said. “As someone who has done a million standouts at the X, I can tell you there’s a real need for more safety on Sumner Avenue.”
Readers can learn more about the project by visiting prior Reminder Publishing reporting: tinyurl.com/aedxs33b and by visiting the MassDOT website for construction updates: mass.gov/the-x-springfield.
The MassDOT Highway Division is overseeing the construction of the project, and Baltazar Contractors is the project contractor.
As the project continues, the city said more public meetings will be conducted to give people updates.
