Safe Routes to School

December 22, 2020:

The state contractor has largely completed resetting the granite curbing and installing the brick and concrete sidewalks along this section of High Street prior to demobilizing for the winter season.  Some driveway aprons have been temporarily patched with asphalt, and the contractor will return in the spring to install concrete driveway aprons.  The foundations have been installed for the beacons at the four crosswalks, and are waiting for a subcontractor to install the beacons.  The contractor will return in the spring of 2021 to complete the sidewalk work and some landscaping as well as mill and overlay this section of High Street at the completion of the job.

August 12, 2020:

This week, the state contractor is completing the drainage upgrades beneath the surface of High Street along the SRTS portion of the roadway.  There had been a delay due to scheduling a crew from National Grid to physically hold a couple of utility poles that are in close proximity to the trenching required for installing the final pipe and structures.  During recent weeks, the contractor has also excavated the old sidewalk near the High School, realigned and re-installed the granite curbing, and poured new concrete sidewalks.  A subcontractor will be returning later in the month to install new concrete sidewalks across the high school entrances/exits on High Street, as well as a few other portions of sidewalk in the vicinity of the school.  The contractor has also excavated the largely brick sidewalk on the other northern side of the street from the high school, and a subcontractor is raising and re-setting the granite curbing later this week.  They will be working on fine grading next week and preparing the sub-base for the new sidewalk on the northern side of the street.  There will be a layer of asphalt on the gravel subbase, and then sand and new brick in the areas where there are brick sidewalks.  In addition, the City has recommended that the project make an adjustment to the two traffic islands that will be installed near Toppans Lane and Carter Street, revising them from the originally proposed raised islands to flush granite curb and cobblestone islands.  We have observed a number of buses and trucks making turns and driving over the entire excavated island areas, and traffic cones at the edge of the islands have been consistently knocked down the street.  The engineer noted that the original design was supposed to accommodate single-unit delivery vehicles and an occasional fire trucks but not really larger vehicles like tractor trailers.  This particular site appears to be too tight to incorporate raised islands without collisions and negative impacts on vehicles and traffic.  Flush granite curb and granite cobbles will be aesthetically pleasing, and will look somewhat similar to the flush cobbles that have existed for decades in the roadway at the entrance to the East Waterfront Lot.  The project has reduced the width of the road at these crosswalks so they will not be excessive or complex for pedestrians crossing, and the flush cobble islands will still send a visual and tactile signal to motorists and help channel and manage traffic.

July 7, 2020:

The state contractor has finished most of the upgraded drainage pipes and structures in the High Street corridor, although there are still a few areas that need work resolving some underground infrastructure conflicts as well as coordination with National Grid.  The contractor has recently started work on the sidewalk in front of the High School, where there will be a grass buffer strip between the sidewalk and the road and a revised curve at the corner to shorten the distance for students and others crossing Toppans Lane.  The stacked granite curb stones will be reinstalled.  In addition, three street trees have been identified by the City’s Tree Warden, as well as the contractor, engineer, and MassDOT, as needing to be removed for safety reasons as well as achieving compliance with universal access requirements.  The trees will be replaced with new ones towards the end of the project.  Two of the trees are Norway maples which, while common, are considered an invasive species and are on the Massachusetts Prohibited Plant List.  Existing Norway maples are generally considered of lower value to the public than other trees, and they are generally being slowly replaced as public street trees when the opportunity arises with other more beneficial species (reducing Norway maple seed production).  The general approach has been to avoid removing trees as much as possible during the project, and the great majority of them have been protected.  However, conditions in the field can modify plans, and occasionally trees need to come down.  The direct abutters have been contacted and are supportive of the removal and replacement of these trees. 

May 27, 2020 – SRTS Project Update:

The state contractor RM Pacella for the SRTS High Street project is continuing to work on upgrading the catch basins and stormwater drainage pipes in the vicinity of the High School.  Looking ahead to the coming weeks, the contractor plans to complete the drainage work near the High School area by around June 10, and will then return to the western end of the project in the Tyng/Toppans area of High Street to begin addressing the curbing and sidewalks.  The intention is for the contractor to address the area around the High School prior to the rest of the project corridor in order to avoid the congestion when school is in session and students are arriving or departing for the day.  The MassDOT Resident Engineer, the contractor’s Superintendent, and the City’s Senior Project Manager have continued to coordinate and discuss the project and its timing with various abutters.

May 7, 2020

Virtual Public Information Meeting Offered for “Safe Routes to Schools” Project on High Street in Newburyport

The City of Newburyport will be hosting a virtual “Zoom” public information meeting on the Safe Routes to Schools project along High Street at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday May 14, 2020.  Participants will include the City’s Senior Project Manager Geordie Vining, City Councilor Heather Shand, and Superintendent Ed Henderson of the state’s contractor RM Pacella.  The City and the contractor are in touch with individual abutters and are generally available to answer questions, and general project updates and information will be posted every few weeks on the City’s website.  The purpose of the upcoming virtual public meeting is to provide an additional forum for members of the public to potentially ask questions as construction begins on the project. 

The link for the upcoming Zoom webinar virtual public information meeting is as follows:

Topic: High Street “Safe Routes to Schools” Project
Time: May 14, 2020 6:00 PM Eastern Time
Join Zoom Webinar: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88174885795
Phone/Audio:      1 (646) 558-8656
Webinar ID:        881 7488 5795

The contractor began some drainage work on High Street at the beginning of this month in the vicinity of the High School and is planning to subsequently work on the sidewalks and curbing in this vicinity.  The federally-funded project is focused on improving pedestrian crossings of High Street and reconstructing sidewalks and non-compliant curb ramps between Tyng and Buck Streets. 

For more information, contact Geordie Vining, Senior Project Manager in Newburyport’s Planning Office, at gvining@cityofnewburyport.com.  (Please note that phone calls are not available due to City Hall’s closure and staff working remotely in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.)

April 16, 2020

Safe Routes to School Project Beginning on High Street

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) has hired R.M. Pacella, Inc. to construct the federally-funded Safe Routes to Schools (SRTS) project along a portion of High Street between Toppans Lane and Buck Street.  The contractor is mobilizing to begin work this spring of 2020.

The design of the SRTS project was developed in 2018-2019 by TEC, Inc., and focused on addressing several excessively wide pedestrian crossings of High Street, as well as improving sight lines to pedestrian crossings obscured by parked vehicles, and reconstructing sidewalks and non-compliant curb ramps.  MassDOT has assigned a Resident Engineer, Laura Beth Solomon, to manage the project.  City staff involved in this project include Geordie Vining from the Newburyport Planning Office, Steve Bergholm from the School Department and Jamie Tuccolo from the Department of Public Services, who will work with MassDOT and the contractor.  Design and construction are fully supported by federal funding.

The contractor anticipates substantially completing the SRTS project this year, and is going to provide general “three-week look-ahead” schedules to MassDOT that will be posted on the City’s website.  The contractor is currently putting up “work zone” signs and is planning on installing video message boards along High Street during the week of 4/20/20.  The subcontractor MON Landscaping will begin installing tree protection and addressing the interface of the sidewalks and roots at the end of April and early May.  RM Pacella anticipates beginning installation of new drainage structures and pipes in the road in the High School area of High Street in early May, and will work their way east during the next month or two.  Pending permission from the Parks Commission, the contractor anticipates using the southern third of the Cushing Parking Lot on the Washington Street side for a temporary laydown area for the project’s drainage structures and other miscellaneous materials.  The project’s work on sidewalks, curbing, driveways, and so forth is anticipated to begin in mid-summer.  Work hours will be 7:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and two lanes of traffic will be maintained at all times.  MassDOT and the contractor will individually contact abutters a few days prior to work adjacent to their property.

The contractor’s crew is required to adhere to the state’s COVID-19 safety guidelines and procedures for public works construction sites, including social distancing, wearing gloves, sanitizing best practices, and daily safety checklists.  For more information, see: https://www.mass.gov/covid-19-guidelines-and-procedures-for-all-construction-sites-and-workers-at-all-public-work

For more information, contact Geordie Vining, Senior Project Manager in Newburyport’s Planning Office, at gvining@cityofnewburyport.com.  (Please note that phone calls are not available due to City Hall’s closure and staff working remotely in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.)

February 5, 2019