WEST SPRINGFIELD — The town of West Springfield hosted a public meeting on Aug. 27 to unveil the final design plans for the full reconstruction of Main Street.
Department of Public Works Director Trevor Wood discussed with Reminder Publishing the project and the impact it will have on the community once it is completed.
Wood said Main Street is “in pretty rough shape to say the least,” and is looking forward to the project being completed.
Last year, Wood, Mayor William Reichelt, town engineers and a few other community members walked Main Street to discuss repaving the area. After walking the street, they realized it was going to be more than just a resurfacing project.
“There was a lot to do there. There’s a lot of curb problems, the sidewalks are heaved up from big trees,” Wood said.
The design is set to improve roadway conditions, pedestrian safety and accessibility, while enhancing the overall character and function of the street.
The redesigned corridor includes several safety and infrastructure improvements. These include raised pedestrian crossings with curb bump outs and improved crosswalk lighting near the Hampden Charter School of Science, Main Street Park and Boys and Girls Club. Traffic-calming speed humps will also be added along the length of the roadway to reduce vehicle speeds and promote safer travel.
“That’s going to make everything a lot safer down there for the residents that walk, especially the children,” Wood stated.
Wood further explained, “We’re adding — I believe — four to five pedestrian crossing speed humps with new crossing lights and along with these speed bumps, we call them bump outs, it’s going to bump out into the road and kind of choke the road down to slow people down at these large crossing areas.”
Additional crosswalks will improve pedestrian connectivity, while new sidewalks and granite curbing will be installed on both sides of the street for the entire corridor.
The project also includes substantial upgrades to the drainage and water systems to improve long-term performance and reliability.
The town decided to “throw everything we can at this” to make Main Street beautiful, according to Wood.
In addition to these infrastructure improvements, the entire roadway will be fully reclaimed and repaved, with updated signage and shared-lane markings to support safe bicycle travel.
Wood explained they wanted to start the Main Street project earlier this year, but Eversource has a large project they are currently working on that includes work on Main Street and surrounding areas.
Eversource expects to complete that project by next spring so Wood said the town is waiting until next spring to start the resurfacing and other major components, but have begun some other aspects of the project.
Wood said if everything goes according to schedule, his hope is for the Main Street redesign project to be done by July. After the Main Street project, Wood said the town will start focusing on other side streets to start paving.
Reichelt shared his thoughts on the project and said, “We are excited to be moving into the next phase of improving Main Street. This reconstruction represents a major investment in safety, accessibility and infrastructure for all who live, work and travel through this area.”
