PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The First Street parking lot is set for a rehabilitation.

 

The city awarded Maxymillian Construction the contract to overhaul the 241-space municipal lot. Parking kiosks are planned to be installed.

 

According to Commissioner of Public Services David Turocy, the construction is expected to start when weather allows this spring and conclude by June 30.

 

"We expect the project to be done in two phases, roughly the equivalent number of parking spaces in each, to allow some continued use of the parking lot during construction. Parking kiosks will be installed at the end of the project," Turocy wrote in an email.

 

The winning bid was $846,214.50 and the work entails a lot. Turocy said two underground stormwater chambers will be installed to eliminate the standing water problems in the lot now. New overlighting is planned. There will be pedestrian accessibility improvements to the entrances along First Street. And there will be some changes to the curbing and island to improve transportation flow, although there will not be any significant alterations to the parking layout. 

 

At the end, the entire lot will be resurfaced. As soon as the project is completed, the city will install the same parking kiosks as on North Street and the McKay Street garage.

 

Currently, the First Street lot is a mix of parking options. A large number of the spaces are allocated for permit parking, other spaces are 90-minute parking, and yet others are 3-hour parking. The city has been rolling out metered parking since January. While most of the municipal lots and North Street are currently eyed for meters, the side streets are not planned to be metered at this time.

 

The spring construction season may be a bit away but the First Street lot is just one of multiple road projects the city is lining up for the season. Last week, Turocy submitted the plan for road repairs, which the city will be using both city and state funds for, to do repairs on 10.21 miles of roads. That plan was sent to a City Council subcommittee for review. 

 

"We intend to repair 10.21 miles of roadway, utilizing a variety of pavement management techniques, similar to the mix we did last year. The work is spread out over all seven wards in the city, and includes 2 City properties, the roadway into Burbank Park, and Utility Drive to the Waste Water Treatment Plant. The latter will be paid for by Public Utilities enterprise funds," Turocy wrote. 

 

That plan also comes with what may be a particular sigh of relief from city residents because it includes eliminating the left lane closure on North Street near Berkshire Medical Center. During the streetscape project the two northbound North Street lanes merged right after Orchard Street, and then a left turn lane opened for Wahconah Street. The plan there is to eliminate the closure and keep North Street a two-lane road. 

 

On the other end of Wahconah Street, the city is looking to remove some curbing on Wahconah to create a right turn lane for those traveling southbound on North to Wahconah. 

 

The other roads eyed for some repairs are: Lenox, Cromwell, Worthen, Bossidy, Crestview, Hurley, Allen, Federal, School, Plastics, Ridgeway, Edward, Cambridge, Marian, Foote, Strong, Marlboro, Appleton, Nancy, Broad, Bartlett, Oswald, Chapel, Taconic, Fort Hill, Robert, Wilson, Watson, Calumet, McArthur and Utility Drive.

 

In total, $2.6 million is eyed for the 2017 road repair program.