By Sharron Luttrell
With Rte.16 traffic backups making people late and trying their patience, the town has pushed to hold contractors to an agreement to limit lane closures to 9 a.m. – 3 p.m., and has asked the state Department of Transportation for weekly updates.
“They’ll coordinate any upcoming disruptions to us so we can communicate that to the public,” Town Administrator Jeremy Stull said.
The three-year project to redo the 1.9-mile stretch between Taft Avenue and the Hopedale town line kicked off this spring with utility work and not much fanfare. The trouble began when Eversource began replacing gas lines, requiring them to close off a lane of traffic.
Stull got his first indicator there was a problem early last week when a woman from Blackstone politely told him over the phone that she’d had “the misfortune to come to lunch” in his “lovely town,” Stull recalled. When she described sitting in traffic, Stull explained that the town was doing what it could to minimize the project’s impact, but ultimately, the state is responsible. The good news, he told her, is that traffic will flow better than ever when the project is complete in 2029.
“She answered, ‘Honey. I’m 89 years old,’” Stull recalled.
More stories followed. Taft Public Library Director Andrew Jenrich was half an hour late for a 6:30 p.m. library trustees meeting because he made the ill-fated decision to leave the building for a quick trip to Cumberland Farms in Hopedale. He made it just a couple of blocks on his return trip when he found himself at the end of a long line of cars. Traffic inched along for 45 minutes until Jenrich finally cleared the intersection with North Avenue.
“Things weren’t moving because people were stopping in the intersection,” causing gridlock, he said.
Stull reached out to the state DOT’s project engineer, who agreed to share the work plans each week and to let him know of potential disruptions ahead of time. Stull will post alerts on the town’s website and Facebook page, and when major disruptions are expected, through the town alert system. The hope is that will give drivers enough advance warning to plan their trips through town.
This week, Eversource is continuing gas line installation, starting in front of Ambro’s Adjustment. They’ve been instructed to keep two lanes of traffic flowing whenever possible, but may at times have to reduce traffic to one lane.
The next anticipated lane closure outside the 9 a.m.-3 p.m. window should happen near the end of July, when Eversource ties the old gas main to the new one, Stull said.
Chief of Police David Kurczy said the start of projects tend to be the most disruptive and traffic will ease up as drivers find alternate routes and when possible, time their trips to lighter traffic hours. Things should also get better when school lets out for the summer and buses aren’t running, he said.
“People are frustrated. There’s not much you can do about it. You’ve got to get the roadwork done, and if you don’t, this is what the traffic will look like every day in 10 years,” he said.
Photo top of page: Utility lines stacked along Rte. 16 ahead of roadwork (Martin Luttrell).
