NORTHAMPTON — The city of Northampton announced to the public on June 3 that the Mass. Central Rail Trail between Jackson Street and Stoddard Street will close for at least two months.
According to the announcement on the city website, the lengthy closure is accommodating a drainage reconstruction project at Adare Place. The project will be completed as preparation for a future repaving project in the area.
“We anticipate this closure lasting approximately two months-with potential for the closure to run until Aug. 30,” read the announcement.
A PDF provided by the city shows that people can still access Jackson Street, Stoddard Street and Prospect Street during the closure.
The Northampton DPW accepted bids for the “Drainage Outfall Restoration” project near Adare Place throughout the month of March and gave a project estimate cost of around $300,000.
In a statement to Reminder Publishing, Donna LaScaleia, the DPW director, the project is needed to make sure the road is draining properly, and the long-term integrity of the bike path is maintained.
“This is a significant project that we’ve spent considerable time designing and permitting, and we are pleased to see it moving forward,” LaScaleia said. “After this work is complete, we will be paving the bike path from Stop and Shop to the Look Park roundabout.”
In a December City Council meeting, Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra listed off several road and sidewalk projects the city would work on over the next several months. During the Dec. 5 meeting, she mentioned that the city needed to repave the bike path from Stop and Shop to Look Park.
Sciarra said that the repaving of the bike path is crucial because work has not been done on that path in three-plus decades.
“We are addressing that, and while doing that, we’ll address drainage issues at Adare Place that have been a problem for quite a while,” Sciarra said during that council meeting.
On Dec. 21, the City Council voted on an order that authorizes borrowing $2 million for the many paving projects Sciarra listed on Dec. 5.
