As we get ready to turn the calendar to September, Town construction activity is ramping up. The Department of Public Works is very busy with road, water and sewer work. These voter-approved projects will continue through the fall as progress is made upgrading Town infrastructure.
The water main on Pleasant Street is being cleaned and relined. Over the decades that the pipe has been in place, deposits have accumulated on the inside of the pipe gradually reducing the functional size and thus lowering the volume of water the pipe can carry. The Pleasant Street line serves as the main trunk line feeding the Town thus having it back to full capacity is critical to the proper functioning of the entire water network.
First, temporary bypass pipes on both sides of the street must be installed to ensure continued water service to each household. This work is underway now and will be followed by digging out access pits where the cleaning equipment and then relining equipment will gain access to the 16” pipe that will remain in place. The work will continue through the fall.
Also, the stretch of old undersized pipe on Old Essex Road is slated for replacement under a similar timeframe. Again, bypass piping will be installed followed by digging up and replacing the existing pipe.
The same construction firm, Granese and Sons, will also be mobilizing a crew to replace the undersized water pipe along Forest Street approximately from Harold Street to Mill Street. The 8” pipe will be replaced with a new 12” pipe after the temporary bypass piping is installed. This work will also take place during the fall. Impacted homeowners will be notified by the DPW as the start-up time approaches. Also, the pipe along School Street from the Essex County Club to Mill Street will be replaced. This will provide a new loop that will improve water service to the eastern section of Town while also providing new water service to the Limited Commercial District via an existing conduit under Route 128.
Forest and Mill Streets will also see a new force main sewer line installation approximately from Ledgewood Drive to the Route 128 conduit crossing on Mill Street. This work will be done in the winter after the water line work is finished. A connection point will be installed at each driveway if homeowners along this route ever wish to connect to the force main (will require the owner to install a grinder pump to feed into the pressurized system.) Both the new sewer line and the water pipe along Forest and Mill are being paid for through a grant from the state under the MassWorks program.
Repaving will also take place this fall. Following the water pipe work along Walker Street last year, the road will get a new topcoat of asphalt. This work should take place in early to mid-September. And the intersection at Harbor and Bridge Street will be reconstructed as a safer “T” intersection with new crosswalks and pedestrian activated stop signs. This reconfiguration is being paid for with state funds and was one of the top concerns for pedestrian safety identified by the Complete Streets study.
Pilot testing of new filtration systems that can remove PFAS is underway at the Graveley Pond Watet Plant and at the Lincoln Street Well. This testing is necessary before finalizing the design of the new filtration medium that will best treat our water. At the Lincoln Street Well, the new filtration system will also remove unwanted iron and magnesium from the water.
And lastly, preliminary site analysis will be getting underway at the old compost site off Upper School Street to determine how the site can become the home to a new DPW garage and headquarters as a replacement to the old facility on Pleasant Street. More on this once we have the results of the analysis to show what is feasible and meets the future needs of the Department.
