Special to the Record
City Manager Fidel Maltez recently announced that construction for the Downtown Broadway Project will no longer take place on Fridays as the project contractors will transition to a four-day work week, working 10 hours each day instead of the previous 8 hours, five days per week. The contractors will work from 7 a.m to 5 p.m., Monday through Thursday.
The change went into effect this week.
Maltez said he advocated for this change to provide the Chelsea community with a three-day break from construction and to make accessing Broadway businesses easier.
“We recognize the Downtown Broadway Construction Project is a major disruption to this area and is creating a lot of impacts,” said Maltez. “We believe this new, four-day work week will bring much relief to our Broadway business owners and our residents by giving them a long weekend without disruption. I’d like to thank our project contractor, Albanese, for their flexibility, and the Chamber of Commerce, for their partnership in our efforts to support our businesses during this period.”
Moving forward, every Thursday afternoon, the contractor will clean the area, move as much equipment out of the right-of-way as is feasible, with larger equipment such as excavators, trench boxes, and road plates parked closely together, to leave as many parking spaces open as possible, according to city officials. This will allow the Broadway businesses to operate without any construction disruptions on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
In the event the project contractor loses a day of work due to severe weather, construction will take place on the Friday of that week to make up for the lost day and ensure the project remains on schedule.
This new schedule will remain in effect for the remainder of the project. By the end of March, Broadway between Fourth and Fifth Street will be completed, and work will move towards Margolis Pharmacy and City Hall.
At last week’s city council meeting, Maltez also responded to a number of council orders that were submitted last month by District 7 Councilor Manuel Teshe looking to minimize the impact of the Downtown Broadway project. Teshe noted that many local businesses have taken a major financial hit during the course of the work.
In response to one council order, Maltez said the city has made positive connections with two local businesses to help make parking more available for special events.
“We have also reached out to Chelsea District Court to request use of the parking lot for overnight parking of residents,” said Maltez. “Unfortunately, the District Court shared concerns with residents not removing their vehicles in the morning and disrupting start time of the court. We will continue to engage them to see if this issue can be resolved.”
Maltez said the city has also reached out to the state to request that the parking lot on 5th Street and Arlington be made available for resident parking.
Maltez said the city could also make available $100,000 in free cash to assist the Chamber of Commerce in its work during the downtown project. The council will take up the financial order in its ways and means subcommittee.
In addition, Maltez requested the city council approve expanding the city’s storefront improvement program with another $100,000 from free cash.