Path a reality

By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor

CHICOPEE Mayor Michael Bissonnette called the information meeting conducted Monday night on the Front Street reconstruction project as "one last head's up."

Saying the plans are "98 to 99 percent" completed, Bissonnette added, "it's coming your way."

Over 50 people attended the meeting at the Chicopee Public Library, which also included discussions on the bike trail project and the economic development of the downtown area.

The $11 million project will renovate the utility infrastructure along the thoroughfare and build a new street and sidewalks. The project will go out to bid soon and Bissonnette said he expects construction should begin in the spring and will last two years.

The mayor didn't pull any punches about the impact of the reconstruction. He said it would be a major inconvenience. Once the bid is awarded, city officials will work with the contractor on a schedule to alert residents and businesses when the section of the road nearest them will be affected. Department of Public Works head Stanley Kulig said he expects a portion of the road will be opened up at a time.

If there are issues concerning drainage or sewers, Kulig urged residents to tell the city prior to the start of construction.

Alderman William Zaskey asked whether or not there would be a turning lane added in front of Chicopee High School to alleviate the back up that controls every school morning with drivers trying to enter the high school parking lot. Kulig said there was not enough room to add such a lane and the back up only lasts 15 to 20 minutes in the morning.

Kulig also reassured a number of residents that trees along Front Street would not be removed.

There will also be new signals and an improved intersection at Grove and Front Streets to make that busy exchange safer, Kulig said.

Bissonnette said the city's goal is to have the road opened up once. He is having the city coordinate with the utility companies so their work would be done when the road is under construction and not after it is completed.

With the Deady Bridge moving towards a completion in the spring, Bissonnette said the Davitt Bridge would be next with a complete renovation. The various public works projects including the Fairview sewer reconstruction, the Front Street project, and the two bridges makes up an approximately $70 million in infrastructure investment, he said.

After 20 years of discussion, the first part of a bike and walking path along the river that would follow Front Street from the Davitt Bridge to Grape Street should begin construction in the spring, Bissonnette said.

The 1,100-foot leg of the project will be funded by $800,000 of state money, he added.

The plan is to have the path extend to Chicopee Falls and to the current Uniroyal and Facemate properties. Bissonnette explained the current legal battle over ownership of those properties and the potential brown field issues there have put that part of the project on hold.

The mayor said he would like to think that by 2009 that part of the path could move forward.

Bissonnette discussed how the bike path, a planned reconstruction of Center Street, the proposed condo development of the Cabotville industrial complex and the re-development of the former library building are all parts in creating what he called "an urban village" in the downtown.

"It could be like Northampton without the edge," he said.

Bissonnette said city officials need to identify the downtown parking that is currently available to counter the perception there is nowhere to park downtown.

He also said the city will be carefully watching whether or not the Alcohol Beverage Control Commission approves a stock transfer that would allow the owners of the Maximum Capacity bar on Memorial Drive to move its business to the site of Stephanie's in downtown.