Hudson's Route 85 In Line For A Facelift
Some officials in Hudson say that lobbying efforts to get the state and federal government to reconstruct Route 85, a busy thoroughfare near the intersection of interstates 290 and 495, began as early as the 1950s.
"I've heard stories that it's been that long that we've been pushing for this," said Hudson's executive assistant Paul Blazar.
In more recent memory, planning began in earnest in 1997 when studies confirmed that the road is too narrow and is in need of traffic light adjustments. Plus, the road needs room for pedestrians and cyclists.
After years of planning - perhaps even decades - the project is primed for public funding. The Boston Metropolitan Planning Organization released its draft Transportation Improvement Program list last month and included funding parts of the $11 million Route 85 reconstruction project.
Rolling Along
The plan calls for improvements to a 1.5-mile stretch of the road from the Hudson/Marlborough town line north to the Washington Street bridge. Construction could begin as early as mid-2011.
The project likely would not have been funded by the state had it not been for investments by RK Associates, a Dedham developer that has already made "an investment in excess of $20 million along the Route 85 corridor," according to a letter RK Associates Principal David Katz wrote to the town of Hudson last month.
Katz said in an interview that when the company's main commercial shopping plaza, the 114,000-square-foot Hudson Towne Center, expanded to house not only the anchor tenant Hannaford Supermarkets, but new stores Petco and Dollar Tree, it was abundantly clear that something needed to be done to Route 85.
"We absolutely needed a signal for traffic coming in and out of the plaza," he said. RK Associates estimates 30,000 vehicles travel on Route 85 daily.
As Katz saw it, RK Associates had two options. The firm could either pay for a traffic signal to be put in and wait for the state and federal government to eventually fix the rest of the road, or it could work with the town and state officials to design and construct the project in collaboration.
Instead of paying possibly hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars to do work right outside of the shopping plaza, RK Associates agreed to pay for the design and engineering studies that were needed to qualify the project for state funding. It saved RK Associates money, got the town on track to receive state funding and will get more of the project done compared to if RK Associates had just fixed the area in front of its property.
"As we examined all of our options, we realized this would really be the best win-win for everyone," Katz said.
RK Associates has poured about $250,000 so far for design costs alone, according to Katz.
The investment has paid off. The overall repaving, widening and safety improvement project along the entire Route 85 corridor has now been marked for funding from the MPO. The MPO is accepting public comments on the draft TIP for a few more weeks, then a finalized plan will be released.
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments