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WORCESTER – The morning commute on Worcester’s Grafton Hill will get even trickier this week when resurfacing of nearly 1.5 miles of Grafton St. begins.
According to the City of Worcester’s construction activity schedule, Grafton St. — from Rice Square to Water St. — will undergo resurfacing starting this week.
As ThisWeekinWorcester.com first reported back in June, the work was expected to begin in Spring 2020 with an outside shot of starting this fall. However, the bid for the work went out in July from MassDOT and it appears it was approved in short order, allowing the resurfacing to begin ahead of schedule.
Worcester DPW Commissioner Paul Moosey told TWIW back in June that to avoid causing major traffic delays during school hours, much of the work will be done at night.
“We don’t envision [Grafton St.] being closed. The actual paving days we envision will be hectic, but that’s only a few days of the whole project. Paving goes really fast — it’s sidewalks, and the lighting and the signals that takes most of the time,” Moosey said. “There’s a lot of work going on in that area over the next couple years and it’s a big, coordinated effort to make sure we minimize the disruption.”
According to Moosey, the improvements to Grafton St. will include not only the resurfacing, but also new street lights, sidewalks, traffic lights and a newly designed Billings Sq. rotary.
The projected is expected to cost around $8 million to complete.
Moosey said the geometry of the Billings Sq. roundabout will change, as well as the ways the roads — Hamilton St. and Grafton St. — will enter and exit.
“There’s been several accidents there over the years,” Moosey said. “The major improvements at the roundabout — and for the project on a whole — will be safety improvements.”
Additionally, the new sidewalks and intersections will feature ADA-compliant wheel-chair ramps and suitable walkways. Due to the lack of space on Grafton St., there will not be a bike lane added after the resurfacing.
The project is expected to take a year to complete.
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