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Date: 12/6/2023
WESTFIELD — An engineering report commissioned by Mayor Michael McCabe is proposing a new onramp and two rotaries to ease traffic exiting and entering the Massachusetts Turnpike (Interstate 90) from Routes 10 and 202.
In 2021, the city commissioned local engineering firm McMahon Associates, Inc. to come up with a design to make the interchange work more efficiently.
It came up with a three-phase project concept, with Phase I allowing traffic to access eastbound I-90 by extending Industrial Park Road as an onramp to the turnpike. Phase II would remove the traffic lights from the intersection of Routes 10 and 202 with Friendly’s Way and replace them with a rotary. Phase III would add another rotary, at the nearby intersection of Holyoke Road and North Elm Street, currently considered one of the more dangerous intersections in the city.
While there has yet to be an estimated cost for construction of the three phases combined, the estimated cost of Phase I is $9.3 million, said McCabe.
“It’s shovel ready. All we need is the funding in place and we can move forward,” McCabe said.
City Engineer Allison McMordie said the design of Phase I is 25% complete, which McCabe called the “hard part,” with work still needing to be done to address drainage and moving utilities. Phase I is also considered the easiest of the three phases because there is little construction needed.
The city is covering the design cost of the project using American Rescue Plan Act funding, McMordie said. The construction project still needs approval from the state’s Department of Transportation and the Metropolitan Planning Organization, which consists of representatives from local government, regional transit operators, and state transportation agencies.