Dalton's Orchard Road Reconstruction Pushed to 2025By Sabrina Damms, iBerkshires Staff
12:22PM / Monday, August 12, 2024 | |
 Orchard Road has suffered from flooding for years because of poor drainage. A new drainage system will replace the piping and catch basins and the road will be repaved. |
DALTON, Mass. — The reconstruction of Orchard Road is now projected to take place next year.
The last estimate for construction was overly optimistic because, at the time, it was unclear how long obtaining the two easements would take, Town Manager Thomas Hutcheson said.
Louise Frankenberg, the owner of one of the easements on Orchard Road, donated the 3,979 square-foot piece of land to the town.
The other easement on North Street, owned by Amy Musante, is a more substantial chunk of land, 14,364 square feet, and was purchased for $7,000.
Voters approved allocating this amount from free cash during the annual town meeting in May.
Now that the town has received the easement plans, it has to file with the Registry of Deeds and pay Musante.
Once that is complete, the town can go out to bid. However, because it is already well into construction season, construction companies are likely already fully booked.
"If we go out to bid now for the next construction season, though, we’ll be much more likely to get competitive bids," Hutcheson said.
The road, which is often used as a connector to Route 9, has had flooding for many years because of undersized drainage pipes, Highway Superintendent Edward "Bud" Hall has previously said.
Most of the flooding is in the middle of the road and into abutting residents' yards, sometimes reaching a depth of 6 inches near the Pease Avenue and Appletree Lane intersections to the East Branch of the Housatonic River.
The reconstruction includes a new drainage system that will replace the piping and catch basins with new and bigger pipes and move them to the center of the road from Pease Avenue to the bridge.
The blacktop on the other side of the road, near Wahconah Country Club and from the Massachusetts Public Works building to Route 9, will be replaced.
This project has been six years in the making and is now possible thanks to the town's approval for a state MassWorks grant of $1 million. The grant will be used to address the street's drainage issues. More information on the grant is here.
This was the second time the town had applied for the grant and after getting some feedback on from the state on the first submission.
The contract with the state was executed in January 2024 and expires on June 30, 2025, at the end of the fiscal year. The state Department of Transportation spokesperson confirmed that the contract has been extended until June 30, 2027, and it would not be considered delayed until after that date has passed.
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