IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Dan Murphy, City Engineer
dmurphy@easthamptonma.gov
Jeff Bagg, City Planner
jbagg@easthamptonma.gov
Main Street TIP Update
Easthampton, MA - In January 2022, the City of Easthampton, Department of Public Works, and Planning Department released a Request for Proposal (RFP) for MassDOT qualified engineering firms to initiate a long-term re-design plan for Main Street (Route 10). The project aims to create a Main Street that will improve safety, transit, walking, bicycling infrastructure, street trees, green infrastructure, and employ designs that make downtown Easthampton safer and more attractive for users.
The project builds off the City’s 2017 Complete Street Prioritization Plan as well as the 2020 Downtown Strategic Plan and will complement the enhancements to Cottage Street, Main Street, Ferry Street, the work underway on Union Street, the planned improvements to Holyoke Street, Payson Avenue and Park Street (bicycle and pedestrian improvements to connect the rail trail to the new Mountain View school).
The project scope is Route 10 from the Manhan River bridge, rotary (including a portion of Pleasant Street), and the upper section of Union Street to the intersection of Main and Park Street and will be led by McMahon Associates.
In coordination with the City, the project will officially begin next week with land surveying, an essential first step necessary to establish existing conditions. Assessments and mapping of underground utilities will occur in the fall, and public outreach, stakeholder meetings, and on-the-ground design meetings are anticipated to begin in the spring.
The MassDOT TIP process is lengthy and has multiple steps, including a 25% design public hearing which is not anticipated to occur until the spring/summer of 2024. Since this is the very early stages of the project, construction is not expected to occur until 2026.
A website has been created, and more information will be available soon and will be used to provide updates as the project progresses. To view the website go to https://easthamptonma.gov/mainstreet.