Millville receives $200,000 from state for street repair
MILLVILLE – The town has been awarded a major competitive grant for town road improvements.
At a selectmen meeting this week, Town Administrator Jennifer Callahan informed the board that the town will receive a $200,000 MassDOT Complete Streets grant, which provides construction funding for local infrastructure improvement projects as identified in each municipality’s submitted Complete Streets prioritization plan.
Examples of projects that can be funded through the program include improved street lighting, radar speed signage, intersection signalization, new shared bike paths, designated bicycle lanes, ADA compliant curb ramps, transit signal prioritization and transit pedestrian connection improvements such as ramps, signage and new signals at crosswalks.
The Millville selectmen have been working to secure the grant for the better part of a year. The board’s first step was to adopt the Complete Streets Policy in December 2016. The document was drafted with input from Highway Surveyor Brian Mullaly, Police Chief Ronald Landry and TEC Engineering & Design, which assisted the town in its application for a MassWorks grant.
The town completed the first tier Complete Streets Program last year, which was to complete a streets policy development. That included attendance by municipalities at an initial program workshop, passage of a Complete Streets Policy that scores 80 or above out of a possible 100 points, and the development of a Complete Streets Prioritization Plan.
The town was given a policy score of 91, which allowed it to advance to the second tier of the program. As part of that phase, the town applied for and was awarded $29,462 for technical assistance.
The final step was being awarded the actual construction fund- ing, which in Millville’s case was $200,000 as announced by Callahan Monday.
The money will go towards the town’s $1.3 million Central Street Improvement project.
The Complete Streets program was created by legislative authorization through the 2014 Transportation Bond Bill with the intent of rewarding municipalities that demonstrate a commitment to embedding Complete Streets in policy and practice. The available funding for Complete Streets is $12.5 million to be used through Fiscal Year 2017. Per the authorizing legislation in the 2014 Transportation Bond Bill, MassDOT is required to distribute one-third of the monies to municipalities below the median household income.
Two years ago, the town received a $1 million MassWorks grant for its proposed $1.3 million Central Street Improvement project, an ambitious year-long construction project that will include new roadway recon- struction, sidewalks and drainage improvements and better connectivity to the town center for pedestrians and bicyclists.
Millville was one of only 10 communities in the state chosen for the funding, which helps communities with populations of 7,000 or less repair roads and bridges.
Town officials kicked off the $1.3 million Central Street Improvement project last year with surveying work. Central Street is the town’s most traveled road, spanning Lincoln Street to Providence Street near the Rhode Island town line. Central Street handles approximately 6,000 vehicles as day, 16 percent of which are heavy trucks.
Callahan says the project will connect newer sidewalks with those on the John Dean Memorial Bridges, which were completed in 2010. The project will also provide a safer, ADA compliant walking experience for the projected increase in pedestrian traffic that is expected to be generated by the Blackstone River Greenway Bike Path, a 3.7mile stretch in Blackstone, Millville and Uxbridge that officially opened last year year. The five key aspects of the Central Street Improvement Project are road reconstruction, including pavement marking and traffic calming elements; new sidewalks to improve connectivity from Center Street to Providence Street; drainage improvements; wheelchair ramps at all driveways and intersections; and bicycle signage and accommodations to tie into the Blackstone River Greenway Bike Path.
The total $1.3 million price tag for the project includes $20,000 for surveying; $5,000 for permitting; $150,000 for design and engineering; and $1,125,000 for actual construction.
The town is contributing $300,000 in state Chapter 90 money towards the project.