Downtown Project: Update #5

The binder course (base coat) will be put down on Summer Street on July 1 or 2 depending on the weather. 

The binder course will be put down on High Street and Main Street from Pleasant to School Street during the same time period. 

They will begin replacing the Emmons Street sidewalk at the end of this week or next week. 

Work at the corner of Emmons and West Central Street (old municipal building) will commence next week, including the installation of the traffic light bases. 

The period lighting bases installation will continue over the summer at several locations. 

The sidewalk reconstruction of West Central Street will begin mid to late July. 

If anyone has a question, please feel free to reach out to the DPW Director, Brutus Cantoreggi or Town Engineer, Michael Maglio at 508-553-5500 or my office at 508-520-4949.

Main St under construction

Downtown Streetscape Project Update #4

From Franklin's Town Administrator Jeff Nutting

Downtown Project Update #4

June 9, 2015

The expected work over the next two weeks will involve sidewalk work on Main Street from Emmons up to Pleasant Street, except the sidewalk next to the Town Common and sidewalk work on Emmons Street between Main and West Central Street.

new sidewalks being installed along Main St

The contractor plans to start road work between Main and Pleasant Street including High Street on or after June 15th

Further he expects to start sidewalk work on West Central Street between Emmons and Union Street on both sides and the sidewalk along West Central Street on the Fire Station side.

The sidewalk on the other side of West Central will be done after all the old utility poles have been removed.

The specific dates for the above mentioned work may vary depending on weather and crew availability

If anyone has a question please feel free to reach out to the DPW Director, Brutus Cantoreggi or Town Engineer Michael, Maglio at 508-553-5500 or my office at 508-520-4949.

Downtown Project: Update #3

The contractor is finishing up placing drainage structures in the Downtown this week. 

They are also working in front of Dean College on drainage. Next week they will begin to bring on another crew and start reclaiming at the intersection of Pleasant and Main Street and work toward Dean College. 

They are still planning to bring in a small crew to install street light bases in about 50 locations.  They anticipate they can install four or five light bases a day so it will take 2 to 3 weeks once they begin. 

If anyone has a question, please feel free to reach out to the DPW Director, Brutus Cantoreggi or Town Engineer Michael Maglio at 508-553-5500 or my office at 508-520-4949.

it is quiet on Main St early in the morning

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Downtown Project Update - Apr 21

The Downtown Project Update for this week:

Contractor started saw cutting the pavement from West Central at Emmons Street to East Central Street for installation of drainage structures. They expect to start with the drainage structures along West and East Central Streets, and then jump back up to Main Street at School Street then work down Main to Emmons Street, then Emmons Street back to West Central.

In the next couple of weeks, they expect to have another crew on the project starting with the roadway reconstruction at the Church and work down Main Street to Emmons Street.  

The light pole crew is also expected in the next couple of weeks.

MASSDOT indicated that they would have the contractor repair any tree protection fencing that was damaged over the winter. If anyone has a question, please feel free to reach out to the DPW Director Brutus Cantoreggi or Town Engineer Michael Maglio at 508-553-5500 or my office at 508-520-4949

marking the surface before cutting it

You can also view/download the update here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0wjbnXDBhczVmo2cWJzdkxJN094R3UzSTRTRW9CTDFJaWln/view?usp=sharing

Downtown Project Update - April 8, 2015

From Town Administrator Jeff Nutting:

We met with Anthony Tavalone the MASS DOT employee in charge of the project, a representative of the contractor, Brian Kelly from Dean College, Lisa Piana from the Downtown Partnership, and representatives from the Franklin DPW. 

The contractor stated he is going to split the project into two phases leaving the reconstruction of Main Street from the Bridge to Emmons Street until to 2016. The contractor indicated he would most likely begin around April 20th starting up near the Red Brick School and working towards Emmons Street over the next couple months. He also will be completing the remaining drainage work on the project (except Main Street) and installing the light bases for the new street lights along the project during that time period. 

Once he completes Main Street from the Red Brick School to High Street to Emmons, he plans to work on Emmons then West and East Central Street during this construction season. This work is likely to take place over the summer and fall. 

We plan to meet in two weeks and will update the community on a regular basis. If anyone has a question please feel free to reach out to the DPW Director, Brutus Cantoreggi or Town Engineer Michael Maglio at 508-553-5500 or my office at 508-520-4949.

Construction on Main St during 4Q - 2014

Franklin Downtown Partnership Meeting: Thurs, April 2nd - Streetscape Presentation

Franklin Downtown Partnership

General Meeting

Franklin Downtown Partnership

Thursday, April 2nd

8:30 AM

Dean College Campus Center

Golder Room

Coffee will be served

Downtown Streetscape Project presentation

Construction will begin in April...so come and learn about the details!

For background info on the streetscape project, there are several links available on the Downtown Partnership page here 
http://www.franklindowntownpartnership.org/p/downtown-project.html

"what makes MSSNG more impressive ... absolutely massive scale"

From Pantherbook, we find this article on the MSSNG project share worthy:

In the past few weeks, Autism Speaks has launched a massive, new campaign in order to raise awareness of and study the genomic information behind Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Called the MSSNG Project, it is already catching the attention of large-scale communications organizations such as Fox Business and Bloomberg TV. 

According to the project’s website, “Autism Speaks is collaborating with Google to store sequenced data from MSSNG on the Google Cloud Platform, providing an open resource for scientists worldwide to access and share autism research.” (AutismSpeaks.org).

Continue reading the article at pantherbook: http://pantherbook.org/news/2015/02/06/autism-speaks-the-mssng-project/#sthash.TftQQAOu.dpuf

screen grab of pantherbook webpage

"hopefully transform downtown Franklin into a better, safer place for shoppers and pedestrians"

Realtor Warren Reynolds writes:

A $7+ million road and streetscape improvement project in Franklin, MA will transform the downtown area later this year once warmer weather allows work to get underway.  The upgrades will include new sidewalks, crosswalks, and traffic signals on several downtown streets.  The biggest change will undoubtedly be the conversion of downtown sections of Main, West Central and Emmons Streets from one-way to two-way vehicular traffic.

Warren Reynold's photo of Main St

Continue reading Warren's summary of the Downtown Improvement project here:
http://www.02038.com/2015/01/2-way-traffic-downtown-franklin/

Warren's write up is rich with links and photos.

Informational Meeting on the Atlantic Bridge Project

Algonquin Gas Transmission has scheduled an informational meeting on the Atlantic Bridge Project, which includes a proposed expansion of the Algonquin Gas Transmission with new pipelines in Southern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Algonquin representatives will be available to answer questions concerning the proposed facilities, safety, environmental and permitting processes, construction and operation, and other aspects of the Atlantic Bridge Project.

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

5:30 pm -7:30 pm

Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham,

835 Upper Union Street in Franklin

If you are unable to attend feel free to call 888-331-6553 or write to the Algonquin Project Office, 3 Allied Drive, Suite 303, Dedham, MA 02026 with questions

Atlantic Bridge Project

You can also find additional info on the Spectra Energy webpage here
http://www.spectraenergy.com/Newsroom/News-Archive/Spectra-Energy-to-Expand-Pipeline-Systems-in-New-England/

and here
http://www.spectraenergy.com/Operations/New-Projects-and-Our-Process/New-Projects-in-US/Atlantic-Bridge/



This was shared from the Franklin webpage
http://town.franklin.ma.us/Pages/FranklinMA_News/01E79389-000F8513

Downtown Project - protecting the trees

The trees are being protected as discussed during the downtown improvement project construction meeting held on July 10 at Dean College

trees on the Town Common

tree at the Franklin Public Library

My notes from the July 10th meeting can be found here
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2014/07/live-reporting-downtown-project-status.html

The map distributed that night can be found here
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2014/07/downtown-improvement-project-map-pdf.html

You can also listen to the full meeting with this audio recording
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2014/07/downtown-improvement-project-meeting.html

Downtown Improvement Project map (PDF)

A regular reader managed to scan the map handed out at Thursday's Downtown Improvement Project meeting to share. (Thank you!)

I had shared a photo of the map earlier, now you can download and view this PDF version.

photo version of map

You can also find the photo along with the meeting notes here

Downtown Improvement Project Meeting - audio

Here is the audio recording of the Downtown Improvement Project public meeting on Thursday, July 10th at Dean College. As the recording starts, Brian Kelly, the Facilities Director for Dean covers the safety logistics for the room and then turns the meeting over to Town Administrator Jeff Nutting.

Jeff proceeds to introduce the team from the State managing the project, the representatives from Walsh (the contractor), Representative Jeff Roy, DPW Director Robert (Brutus) Cantoreggi, and Town engineer Mike Maglio.

You can follow along with my notes that I captured as the meeting happened.

FM #105 - The audio from the Downtown Improvement Project meeting held at Dean College on July 10, 2014.

My notes from the meeting can be found here
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2014/07/live-reporting-downtown-project-status.html




MP3 File

map of Downtown Improvement Project

The video of the meeting is not yet on the broadcast listing for the local cable channel -> http://franklin.tv/programguide.pdf

---- ---- ----

This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin. I can use your help.

How can you help, you ask?
If you have an interest in writing about something that matters in Franklin, please let me know.

As always - 

• If you like this, please tell your friends and neighbors
• If you don't like this, please tell me.

This feedback loop is important. Thank you for listening.

For additional information, please visit franklinmatters.org/

If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com

The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana"  c. Michael Clark &Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission

I hope you enjoy!

In the News: recycling center, downtown project

The recycling center will open on Sundays beginning next month from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. through November, a change the Town Council pushed hard for. 

The town still has to get the staff in place, and adding the new hours at the 455 Beaver St. center will cost roughly $2,200, which will likely come from the sale of permits.

Continue reading the full article in the Milford Daily News
http://www.milforddailynews.com/article/20140711/NEWS/140719256/1994/NEWS

After a decade of waiting, interspersed with numerous meetings and design updates, the initial improvements to the downtown will finally begin this month with roadwork on Lincoln and Main streets. 

Throughout the summer, construction crews with Walsh Contracting, the project manager hired by the state Department of Transportation, will install new drainage infrastructure and start a full reconstruction of the roadways. 

Delays and detours during the daytime hours are expected as the work progresses. A construction superintendent will notify residents who live along the streets when crews are working in front of their homes. 

Continue reading the full article in the Milford Daily News
http://www.milforddailynews.com/article/20140711/NEWS/140719264/1994/NEWS

Live reporting - Downtown Project Status meeting - 7/10/14

meeting opens

Dean College's Brian Kelly provides some safety logistics about the room we are in here at Dean.

Town Administrator Jeff Nutting introduces the key folks part of the evening Questions and Answers and then Rep Jeff Roy provides some opening remarks in his role as one of the State liaisons.

Jeff Nutting - at podium introducing the remaining folks

Dave (last name not captured) - Walsh Construction
focus of work this year will be Main St to Lincoln, primarily underground work, then grinding up the road prior to re-paving. Anticipate having all the underground work and a binder layer done before the winter. In 2015, we'll come back to begin the sidewalks, etc. which will take more time (we'll have the full season to do so).

Final coating should be all done in one smooth continuous cover.

Nutting - There'll be some pole replacements and the State can speak to the coordination.

George Merdi - State, construction engineer
coordinating the utility work to be done. The utility work is critical to the timeline of the schedule. The utility companies are on board.

Nutting - will there be traffic flow during the construction?
Dave - when feasible, there will be detours noted for work for the day (removed at the end of the day)

Nutting - access to the driveway?
Dave - will try to provide what we can during the day, at least at the end of the day

Q - on the map, there is a small section of  Summer St, what about the remainder of Summer St?
Nutting - Yes, the first 100 feet or so from East Central is part of the downtown project. The remainder of Summer St is a town project, water line this year and paving next year as we normally do. Trying to coordinate the schedule between the two during the year.

Q - can you take us back through the project, what it will be like at the end?
Nutting - Obtained funding in 2002, the ultimate goal to get the fire station off the one way street. (2) To slow down traffic on Main St. Speed bump curb to curb at Depot St, and at Dean at the crosswalk. (3) studies have shown that not all the traffic wanted to go on Main St, so the traffic staying on 140 can do so. (4) aesthetic improvements, brick walks, utilities underground, period lighting.

There is no indication that the traffic getting through town will be any faster. The funding was $1M per year beginning in 2005, so we wouldn't have had all of it until 2010 anyway.

Did look at under grounding utilities from Ruggles to West Central but it didn't make sense financially. Will still some overhead wires there.

photo of the map handed out at the meeting

Map detail - The green coloring indicates work being done in 2014. The blue and yellow sections will be done in 2015. The blue is the full roadway rebuild on Main St. The yellow is the mill and re-paving along East/West Central and Emmons Sts.

Q - line on my property seems to be in the middle, is that where it will stay?
Nutting - we have the full plan docs here, the same contractor did the Union St work a couple of years ago.

Q - what is the change order process?
Nutting - we'll have the info available. No guarantee but submit it, it will be reviewed and decided.

Q - what will the Main St be like?
Nutting - there'll be a base coat down before the winter will be here.

Q - sense of Bridge to Emmons St?
Dave - all of next year, early Apr through the summer. Construction equipment? There will be times it will be closed.
Nutting - Main St is a full depth reconstruction
Dave - right now it will be all daylight work.
Nutting - water and sewer is already done, the State will be doing some drainage

Q - what about parking?
Nutting - we are looking at alternative areas. Perhaps Emmons st. The Post Office is putting their own parking lot in, so that will help us. May prohibit commuter parking for a period

There is a sequence for doing the bridge in 3 phases, you can come down and review the details.

Q - what about the width of the road?
The right of way will not be any wider. The structure of the bridge will not be touched.

Q - what about the work in front of the fire station?
The fire dept will not be impacted during the work period.

Q - on the quality of the asphalt mix?

Q - What about the trees? Some of them have colored ribbons.
Dave - orange indicates trees to be protected, blue to be removed; we'll be coming in next week to start putting the protection in and around the trees

Q - no handicap accessible access on Main St?
Nutting - that is why we are doing this. The work we are doing is going to be all ADA compliant

Q - considering some lights? At St Mary's trying to turn left coming up Beaver.
Nutting - there is no signalization in this work. There is no plan to change any of the signals in this work

Q - Anything ore on the timing for downtown next year?
Dave - we'll concentrate on doing the full depth first, the lions share of the West Central/Emmons would be later next year.

Brutus - mill and overlay will be fairly quick, you can do it in about two weeks

Q - on street lighting downtown vs. Union St where it is light up like a Christmas tree
Downtown will be getting the period lighting, the East Central area will remain with above ground poles and lights

Q - What about the Emmons St lot?
Nutting - there is nothing decided yet, the Town Council has to consider that. Even to go through a public process to dispose of the property, it could be set to be available in fall of 2015.

Jeff Nutting facilitating answers to the questions

Q - when will the traffic turn?
Nutting - when it is all done, hopefully some time Sep/Oct 2015. It could be as late as Apr 2016

Q - there'll be times when our students will be moving in and out, where we have to communicate with 1,000 families
Nutting - we will keep you informed and work with the abutters as issues come up. This is a MA project so we (Franklin) will be in a communication role.

Q - what is the normal day hours
Nutting/Dave -  7-3 normally on M-F

Q - on how to get to Main St
Nutting - Coming east on West Central, you'll turn left on Emmons and right on Main.

Q - how do GPS people know that Franklin has no gone two-way?
Nutting - call Google?

Q - on parking along Main St down by St Mary's, currently can be done on both sides?
Nutting - we'll need to look at that, maybe need to restrict parking

Q - what about the meters?
Nutting - they'll come out during the construction but the Town Council has not yet decided what to do. We could enforce 2 hour parking without meters.

Q - Emmons up to Ray St?
Nutting no change, it will remain one way

We'll be getting the communications and notifications out in the next couple of weeks.

closing meeting

Downtown Improvement Project - Presentation

The document used by DPW Director Robert (Brutus) Cantoreggi to provide the update on the Downtown Improvement Project to the Town Council on Weds, Nov 13 can be viewed here:



This doc was available as part of the Town Council meeting doc and is not available separately.

For the all the notes taken during the presentation and discussion on Weds, you can find them here
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2013/11/new-town-council-new-promises.html

Live reporting - Downtown Project

H. PRESENTATIONS/DISCUSSIONS
Presentation by DPW on Downtown Project 

Robert (Brutus) Cantoreggi, Director of the DPW

older presentation with some minor updates as the details were finalized
A copy of the presentation is contained in the document (PDF)
http://franklinma.virtualtownhall.net/Pages/FranklinMA_CouncilAgendas/2013/111313.pdf

Currently a left turn on Main St from West Central is allowed, it won't be when Main St goes two way

the water trough, sign and holiday tree can still fit on the island on the bridge

some of the trees maybe replaced but there will be trees located downtown

the crosswalk at Dean will be moved to the corner on W Central St (away from the position in the middle where it is today)

discussion began in 2002, MassDOT construction bids will open in Jan 2014
MassDOT will be running the job, DPW will be coordinating but not controlling the work

'it is going to be a pain, there will be some aggravation downtown until it is finished"

Q - will there be a place holder for the veterans flags?
A - you can use banners or flags as banners

Q - horrendous record of taking care of trees downtown
A - we do the best we can with the budget we have, the budget has been cut since I have been here. Eventually they will need maintenance. The most difficult thing is about urban trees is when they have to get taken down. Most street trees will fail due to the conditions downtown.

I want those trees to succeed downtown, that is the way we want to go. Some of those there are dense leaf trees are not good for that location. Looking at Pennsylvania Elm trees

Q - what do we do with the parking meters? The flags currently hang off the parking meters?
A - We have been meeting with the Downtown Partnership and will be coming back to the Council for a decision, we have time for that.

Q - a tree adoption program?
A - It is a great idea and works as long as the business owner, I don't wan't to be the tree police.

Lisa Piana - I can check with others where it has been done to see if this is something we can do here
We want the trees to grow and not block the signage. We should have a lot less headache with the trees planned

Q - What is the crosswalk going to do to the plows?
A - the first time through they'll learn, it shouldn't be a problem

Q - I was at Dean the other day and they are concerned about the construction
A - Actually I don't know when it will really switch, they have more engineers than we do. They would have to complete the crosswalks, sidewalks, etc.

Q - bike lane?
A - No, no room for it downtown. The roads downtown is too narrow

Q - can we put this on the web?
A - once we have a contractor and updates, we'll be sharing more. On the Franklin webpage
We could hold a pubic hear so we know dates and schedules. It will really be up to MassDOT

Q - We should have had a say in these details.
A - We need to know the answers, the residents are not going to want to go to DOT or to elsewhere

Lisa Piana - I just want to add a couple of comments. The Partnership is very excited for this project. now it is going to start, they are very nervous. It will be horrible during but after, it will be beautiful. Once we get the dates, it will be available on our website as well.

"how construction would affect businesses"

The Downtown Project is making some planning progress as reported in the Milford Daily News:

Almost ten years in the making, the project aims to bring business back to the heart of town, in part through several cosmetic and safety improvements. 

Construction — slated to begin next fall after the project goes out to bid in August — will include: converting one-way traffic on Main Street and West Central Street to two-way; fixing roadways and sidewalks; upgrading lighting; and installing interconnected traffic signals and calming devices. 

With a total length of more than a mile, the work, the bulk of which should wrap up in the spring of 2014, will encompass a large swath of the downtown.

Read more: http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/x1433793532/Franklin-plans-for-downtown-improvement-project#ixzz2MwW3XNm8

Additional information on the project can be found on the Downtown Partnership webpage
http://www.franklindowntownpartnership.org/p/downtown-project.html

And on the Planning and Community Development webpage
http://franklinma.virtualtownhall.net/Pages/FranklinMA_Planning/downtowndocs/

And the collection here
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2010/08/downtown-improvement-project-collection.html

"bring back some life to the downtown area"

The Milford Daily News reported on the public hearing held Thursday evening writing in part:

Final designs will be revealed in January, with construction slated to begin in the summer. With work on the new high school also planned for 2013, the town will be facing two huge construction projects in the same year. 

Construction on the downtown project will mark the start of phase two of the more than $7 million effort. The work is the culmination of almost 10 years of planning, including numerous public hearings and constant dialogue among the town, its engineers and MassDOT. 

Funded through the Public Works Economic Development Program (PWED), the first part of the project, completed last year, entailed improvements around Dean Avenue and cost $1 million. 

Phase two construction, paid for with a $5 million federal grant as well as roughly $1 million in state and local money, consists largely of revamping the roadway and sidewalks and improving lighting (replacing the current cobra-head fixtures with period style lighting).

Read more: http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/x345284912/Latest-designs-for-Franklin-downtown-project-revealed#ixzz1zAsB8WhL

The full set of notes taken live during the meeting can be found here:
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2012/06/live-reporting-public-hearing-downtown.html

Live reporting - Public Hearing - Downtown Project

Lawrence Cash, MassDOT project manager for the project

Please sign on the attendance sheet to be part of the public record

Tom Emerick
Jerry Doherty

Gene Kegan,
Larry Bollanger

Melanie Sprague, transcriber of hearing

Page 4 of the handout covers the hearing procedures
Federal Aid funding, 80%, MassDOT does the remaining 20%
$5.8M expected total cost of project, construction expected in Summer of 2013

Right of Way Procedure (Doherty)
Franklin to acquire all necessary rights for the design and implementation of the project
procedures must follow Federal guidelines
right of way certificate is required before the project can be advertised
can answer any questions during the open hearing portion

Weston & Sampson to describe the project
improvement meant to allow folks to pass through Franklin center
mean to improve the aesthetics of the downtown, with plants, lighting, etc.
encourage private investment along the corridor, upgrade the surfaces, sidewalks and roadways through out the downtown
the geographic area is much greater than the Triangle originally mentioned 10 years ago

meant to bring back some life to the downtown area and improve the economic conditions
new sidewalks
raised crosswalk at Dean College to force traffic to slow down
pedestrians, bicycles and cars will be able to live together as one
one of the major changes is to return to 2-way traffic

traffic patterns currently crossing each other with directional flow to 495 and others coming the other way to head to the T station
40% of the traffic is attempting to get to 495 and that means down Main St to Emmons and then towards 495

with signaling and 2-way traffic it would improve the fire dept response time to the northern section of the community

intending to keep the existing improvements to water infrastructure and drainage that the Town has already accomplished

Hearing procedure
solicit input, may not be able to answer all the comments or questions
identify self, include spelling of last name
a mailing sheet is available for submitting additional comments
common practice to allow elected officials to speak first

Tina Powderly, Franklin Town Council
thanks for your work on this project for so long
how is the extra incidents driven by the project that the Police, DPW, etc would incurr be handled?
Traffic details would be handled by the project

Judy Pfeffer, Town Council
is the water trough part of the future of this project?
Yes, it will be just about in the same spot
how many lights will there be?
Four in the space of about 2500 ft

Robert (Brutus) Cantoreggi, DPW director
this project would not have happened with out Sen Kennedy and Rep Vallee
The PWED project has provided a taste of what this will be like
MassHighway, your fun to work with at times but we get through it

The hearing is now open to the public

Brian Henderson, High St
potholes are all over High St, is that going to be covered as part of this project?
Cantoreggi - High St is planned for with Town funds, we'll work with the contractor to do it about the same time

Lisa Piana - Downtown Partnership
Been working on this for 7 years, thanks for the work thus far
very excited about the project, about 170 members and most of the downtown businesses

Brian Kelly, Dean College
we have been working with Franklin and very thrilled with the work being planned
the students are a big part of the pedestrian traffic and they should be safer with this

Ficco, Highland St
trying to like this project
large number of traffic signals a concern, Summer St inter-section is a problem
consider a roundabout? it would slow down the traffic, the traffic in the morning really flies by to make the lights at Cottage St
I question putting the monster traffic device in front of Dean
if the purpose of the device is to slow down, you hit a traffic sign shortly after
consideration should be made for pedestrian overpasses, the land is available
third domotory being added, consider an overpass there too
parking is a problem, it used to be with the 2-way, you could cruise one way, turn around and find a spot going the other way

Chris Bond, Murphy Business Office
how long will the metered spots be interrupted downtown during construction?
Larry - during construction, we would work with the town to phase the construction, provide alternatives, provide updates to know what is happening during the construction

Andy BIssanti, Town Council
Consideration for angled parking?
For a safety factor, the Federal funds wouldn't be allowed

Steve Cook, Crecent St
Who is ultimately responsible for timeliness of coming in and on budget?
We have it capped at roughly $5.8M, during the design phases, we would be monitoring the costs
Town designed project with Federal funds overseen by MassDOT
once it goes to construction, we assign a resident engineer, we also set the duration for the project, we will pay up to 10% over the budget but then the Town would pick up the remainder, we generally staying within the budget
Cantoreggi, water line planned for Crecent St this year, East St/West St just went to bid
there is a lot of money going on to improve the downtown

Glenn Jones, Town Council
I also live downtown, I would like a staffed communications function
we need to ensure everyone is aware of what's going on, any issues or problems with changes in service in the area. There are other things going on in Town at the same time so while it good to get it all done at the same time, it is also necessary to keep everyone informed. Discuss what forms or types of communication, Facebook, Twitter, town website, etc. keep up to date with schedules

Bryan Taberner, Director Planning and Development
in response to Councilor Jones, the Town Administrator assigned Maxine Kinehart as key contact during the PWED project, we'd like to use the same process, it worked last time

Any further questions or comments at this time?

Reminder on the last sheet as a mail in sheet, send it within 10 business days
Before I close this hearing we will be here as long as you are interested
thank you for attending and providing this meeting room

Downtown Project - Public Hearing - Jun 28 7:00 PM

The MassDOT will hold a public hearing on the RT 140 and Downtown Project on Thursday, Jun 28 at 7:00 PM. The hearing will be conducted at the Municipal Bldg in the 3rd Floor Training Room. (Note due to this choice of location in the Municipal Bldg, the hearing is not likely scheduled for broadcast via cable.)

Additional info on the public hearing can be found in this official notification



Why a public hearing?
The project is funded by the State of MA and hence MassDOT has controlling interest. The project delays are primarily due to the State schedules. Franklin was granted the funds at $1 M per year and waited for the $5 million total was accumulated before beginning the detail planning on this project.