Gas line work disrupts Hudson shops
National Grid replacing infrastructure during busy retail season
HUDSON — Since October, National Grid workers have been replacing gas lines beneath several streets in Hudson, which has required intermittent road closures. But this month, when the project continued onto the main commercial drag of Warren Street, some business owners began growing frustrated by the construction during the crucial holiday season.
Some said sales have declined by double-digit percentages as the noise and road closures deter shoppers. The local business owners also say they haven’t been notified about how long the work will last.
“I already have taken a substantial loss in overall sales this December compared to last year and the year prior due to constant road closures and limited traffic and parking,” said Samuel Logan, who owns Meridian, a clothing store on Warren Street. He reported a 13 percent drop in sales for the past 30 days, a significant amount for a business of his scale, he said.
“The bottom line is, this is the season where we’re all trying to collect because things really slow down the first quarter of the year,” Logan said.
Logan described communication from the utility company and the city as “poor to nonexistent,” though he added that he and other business owners have engaged in conversations on social media with Mayor Kamal Johnson, who explained the city has limited control over the situation because National Grid has domain over the roads and the gas lines beneath them.
“The issue is that cutting off traffic and parking — particularly in December when all of the meters on Warren Street are free for the whole month to encourage people to shop our business district — is just such (a) killer,” Logan said.
The noise has been a big deterrent at Love Thy Beast, a pet supply store, as many shoppers bring their dogs who would be uncomfortable with the noise, the shop’s owner Tiziana Agnello said.
“Our weekday sales have definitely plummeted,” Agnello said. “It’s affecting my employees’ well-being too — they’re hearing saws taller than them without any notice. The town never notified us that there would be any of this noise happening. It just started one day.”
Maryvaughn Williams, who runs Hudson Clothier, wondered why the project couldn’t have been postponed until after the holidays.
Patrick Stella, a spokesperson for National Grid, said it’s difficult to pinpoint a timeline for completion of the project given that winter weather can disrupt the work. But he said the utility has stayed in contact with the city.
“We know it’s always inconvenient and we are trying
to make it as painless as possible,” said Stella, who added the utility has stopped working at times.
National Grid is looking to replace 6,000 feet of aging gas pipes throughout the city, in part also to reduce methane emissions from small leaks in the lines, Stella said. The old pipes, which are made of materials
like lead, plastic or steel, are being replaced with new plastic pipes.
“They’re old pipes and they’re due to be replaced,” Stella said.
In the middle is the city’s government. Johnson said National Grid has given the city no actual timeline, but that he’s been told the project will go “well into 2024.” Johnson said initially, he thought the work would happen in the spring.
In his last communications with the utility, Johnson said
National Grid agreed to take a break for the week until after the holidays. But Williams, who owns Hudson Clothier, said the utility’s workers were back to work in front of her store on Tuesday, Dec. 19.
“National Grid has the right to the road over the city. There’s nothing that myself as mayor or any other elected official can do to stop them or try to get them to work in a different way, so it’s been tough,” Johnson said. “We’ve tried to relay to the businesses
and to National Grid on some sort of schedule, but National Grid does not want to provide a schedule because they feel like the work that has to be done and you really can’t box it into a schedule.”
Johnson encouraged business owners to continue to reach out so he could connect them with National Grid supervisors working on the project. Store owners said this makes them feel unappreciated by the city’s government.
“It’s the worst timing ever,” said Agnello, adding the only time she’s heard from the city’s government was when their accountant submitted sales tax to the wrong county by accident.
“It’s just surprising because Hudson’s business center has flourished so much in the past five to 10 years, and it doesn’t seem to get the recognition from our city government,” Williams said. “This just kind of feels like another little way of them saying, ‘we don’t really care.’ ”