The City saw a plethora of bidders on the complete overhaul of the Beacham Street corridor in the New England Produce Center, and thus were able to choose a bidder that came in under budget.
The low-bidder on the project was awarded this week, and they were able to choose from eight companies that put in bids for the work. That was a surprise, and City Planner Alex Train said that allowed the project to start off on a good note – it being under budget.
He said they anticipated an April groundbreaking, likely the second week.
Next week, however, they will begin pre-construction abutters meetings, with one on March 27 at 11 a.m., and another on March 29 at 11 a.m.
A major piece of the project early on will be adding capacity to the drainage system.
“We’re going to completely reconstruct the area’s drainage and in some cases will double the capacity of the system,” he said. “We’re trying to add capacity as the instances of flooding there have been well-documented.”
Beyond that, they will be introducing sidewalks on the north side where there are none, a shared bike and pedestrian path on the south side, and upgrade the intersection at Spruce/Williams with intelligent signals. There will also be new landscaping and a full reconstruction of the roadway as well. The project goes to the Everett line, but the City of Everett is working in tandem with Chelsea to pick up the same design and continue it on their side all the way to Lower Broadway.
The Chelsea part of the project is expected to take two years from groundbreaking.