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Reconstruction of Barre's Main Street 'coming soon'

Thomas Lauzon

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BARRE — The single biggest construction project that the Granite City has ever seen – the three-year, now-$16 million reconstruction of the half-mile section of North Main Street that runs through the heart of downtown Barre – is literally months away from groundbreaking after years of promises.

The difference, according to Mayor Thomas Lauzon, is that this time it's for real, a fact that means an understandably skeptical citizenry will soon be asked to come up with its share of a state project that has been a bad joke in Barre for the better part of two decades.

Though he had little to do with it, Lauzon knows the history of a project that has always been "coming soon," but never arrived.

When Lauzon was elected to the city's highest office in 2006 he vowed to deliver on what has been widely viewed as un-kept promise to provide a long-overdue facelift to the streetscape in downtown Barre. Thanks, he claims, to constant pressure applied by a committed City Council, the plans are now complete, the funding is in place, and work on the project's first phase, preparing a Summer Street bypass, is about to begin.

Now comes the hard part: reminding residents – many of whom are struggling through difficult economic times – why a project that's been on the state's books since 1984 is so important and persuading them to come up with a local match that is estimated at roughly $1.7 million.

"The timing isn't lost on me," Lauzon said this week, noting that city officials couldn't have foreseen the "economic tsunami" that hit late last year when they were pressing hard for a project that will essentially rip up North Main Street – sidewalks and all – and start from scratch.

However, Lauzon said that doesn't change the fact that the project is a great deal for Barre and a needed improvement to its central business district.

"Our time is now," he said. "Our time to make a decision and embrace this project is now."

Although the city could technically cover the local match of the project's first phase with money already in its capital budget, Lauzon said it would be "disingenuous" to allow the state Agency of Transportation to invest in that work if voters aren't willing to fund the total project.

"As far as I'm concerned … out of respect to the agency, I think it's important that we, as a city, make that commitment to them," he said. "It's important to me that the citizens of Barre accept this project as their own, because it is their own."

With that in mind, Lauzon said, councilors are prepared to include a bond issue to cover the city's share of the total project on the ballot for the city's March elections. An up-or-down vote on a multi-year bond issue, which is expected to be somewhere between $1.7 and $1.8 million dollars, will enable voters to send a clear signal about how they feel about the planned reconstruction of North Main Street.

"They could say: 'No,' and, chances are, if they do, we won't ever see this project again," Lauzon said, even as the council was preparing for a Feb. 2 hearing at which they are expected to determine the project is a public necessity and decide how much to compensate the 17 landowners that will be affected by the phase one work.

According to City Attorney Oliver Twombly, the city will primarily be seeking construction easements and very little land will actually be taken through the condemnation process. A second compensation hearing for landowners affected by phase two of the project – the actual reconstruction of North Main Street – will be held later this year.

Based on assurances from state officials, Lauzon said he is confident that portion of the project, which includes everything from reconstructing the street and installing a storm water collection system to replacing sidewalks, signs and streetlights, will occur in consecutive construction seasons starting in 2011.

Thanks to the availability of favorable federal funding, the city will have to come up with a 2 percent match for most of the work, which is estimated to cost roughly $15 million. However, the city will be completely responsible for replacing a century-old sewer line that runs beneath the street. That work is expected to cost roughly $1 million. Add in a 15 percent contingency and expenses associated with upgrading existing amenities – like signs and street lights – and the city's share could top $1.7 million. Roughly $1 million of that would represent long-term debt incurred by the sewer fund, while the balance would represent a general fund obligation.

In addition to the economic advantages associated with cosmetic improvements that will help revitalize downtown, the project will upgrade two major utilities – water and sewer – at dramatically reduced expense to ratepayers and result in improved safety thanks to plans for new streetlights, sidewalks and crosswalks, Lauzon said.

More information about the projects – including graphic representations of the finished product will be available during a Feb. 2 hearing that Lauzon hopes will be well-attended.

"If we want it, it's right there but it's going to require a certain amount of engagement on the part of our citizens," he said describing the looming bond vote as a "crossroads" for the community.

The first phase of the work will primarily involve installing traffic signals at the intersections of Summer Street and Maple Avenue and Summer and Elm streets. It will also involve slight modifications to both of those intersections, as well as the intersection of North Main and Elm streets to accommodate the turning radius of large trucks that will use Summer Street as a detour when North Main Street is under construction.

That work would be completed in segments over two construction seasons. When it is finished, North Main Street would be rebuilt from City Hall Park to just beyond the Route 62 intersection.

david.delcore@timesargus.com