Southborough Aims For Downtown Improvements
After more than a decade of discussions, the Southborough Board of Selectmen unanimously agreed last week on improvements to the town's Main Street and downtown area.
But limited funding from the state for transportation projects like this one make it unclear if the Southborough project, along with dozens of other projects across MetroWest, will ever get off the ground.
The $4 million in improvements to Main Street in Southborough would widen the street, create a raised sidewalk and provide designated parking areas in downtown along Route 30. Town officials hope the Boston Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) will fully fund the project and place it on a list of projects that will be constructed during the next four years.
But getting priority status for the project from the MPO will likely be a struggle.
Design Flaws
Downtown businesses in Southborough complain about the current parking situation downtown, saying that cars routinely park on sidewalks.
"The road really needs to be repaired and widened," said Nancy Morris, one of the owners of Morris Funeral Home at 40 Main St. in Southborough.
Town officials have been discussing improvements to downtown since at least 1996. Studies were done in the late 1990s and mid 2000s. But town officials never applied for state funding because the specifications of the road widening project did not fit in with state guidelines, according to Town Engineer John Woodsmall.
In 2006, however, the state gave cities and towns more flexibility in how road widening projects could be designed. During the last two years, town officials have held multiple public meetings to determine exactly what changes should be made to the one-mile stretch on Main Street between Sears Road and Park Street.
Plans call for 11-foot wide vehicle travel lanes, four-foot shoulders on each side of the road, and a five-and-a-half-foot raised sidewalk. The road will be widened, allowing for cars to park on the side of the road and not block the sidewalk. To do so, town officials will have to move a stone wall that runs along Main Street.
Once the project is fully designed, which Woodsmall said could be as early as this year, the project will have to get in line with more than 140 others around the Boston MPO region that are also looking for funding through the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP). For a project in the region to receive state or federal funding from the MPO, it must appear on the TIP list.
MPO staff estimate there will be about $223 million available for transportation projects in the region for the period between fiscal years 2011 and 2014. Six ongoing projects, however, already take up almost $200 million of that funding. The largest of those projects is an improvement of Crosby's Corner on Route 2 in Concord and Lincoln. Another project includes funding for improvements to Route 128 in Dedham, Needham, Westwood and Wellesley.
That leaves about $23.5 million for remaining projects to be funded. Another seven projects, totaling $22.2 million have been on previous TIP lists. So, that leaves about $1.3 million for more than 140 projects across the MPO region that total more than $1 billion in construction that have not yet appeared on a TIP list.
Jean Kitchen, Southborough town administrator, said she understands the budget constraints of MPO transportation projects. But, she's confident the Southborough project will eventually get funded.
"It's just a matter of time," Kitchen said. "I can't tell you what year we will get funding, but of course we're lobbying to get it as soon as the plans are finalized."
Julian Suso, town manager in Framingham, said it's a constant struggle each year to fight for a piece of the MPO TIP pie.
Framingham has requested four projects be placed on the TIP list, including streetscape improvements to Routes 126 and 135 in the downtown and a grade separation project along the same roads.
"It's just part of the way the process works," Suso said. "Without a doubt, funding is scarce, and sometimes you just have to wait in line."
The MPO is scheduled to release a draft list of TIP projects for fiscal years 2011 through 2014 later this week.
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