By AUBREY HAWKE
Waltham Times Contributing Writer
As National Grid prepares to start two major construction projects it has planned, City Council members are once again raising concerns about how the utility’s construction projects and timelines impact Waltham residents. Last week’s City Council discussion came after National Grid alerted the board to two major construction projects it has planned. The utility also sought grant of location requests, which allow National Grid to complete construction on public property.
One project will take place around Second Avenue and the other is in the South Street area.
The City Council referred both projects to the Licenses and Franchises Committee for further review. The committee is scheduled to review the projects during its public meeting this Monday, Dec. 16, at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall.
Second Avenue project
The Second Avenue project includes a gas main replacement and extension and will span more than 2,000 feet. Abutters to the project include Mass General Brigham’s Waltham location (52 Second Ave.) and Costco (71 Second Ave.)
National Grid aims to start construction on Second Avenue in the spring. It expects the project to take at least 10 weeks to complete, although that timeline does not include repaving the road after the trench work is completed.
Ward 1 Councilor Anthony LaFauci voiced concern about construction being done during the day on Second Avenue, citing the close location of the Mass General Brigham’s facility and Costco.
National Grid’s representative said that it is open to doing construction at night in this location.
LaFauci also asked whether businesses such as Costco and Mass General Brigham could potentially see service outages because of the work. National Grid said they would not.
Councilor-at-Large Carlos A. Vidal asked if it is necessary to do this construction now, given Second Avenue was repaved just two years ago. National Grid explained the timeline is from the company that is requesting and financing the Nation Grid work.
Vidal also expressed concern over the scale of the project.
South Street work
National Grid also had a grant of location hearing regarding more than 2,000 feet of main replacement work under and around South Street, with councilors noting that some of the cast iron pipe being replaced was originally installed 120 years ago.
National Grid said replacing this main with a new plastic main would improve reliability and safety.
National Grid said the South Street project would likely take months to complete. Construction would occur between 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Ward 9 Councilor Robert G. Logan raised questions about how this work would affect traffic in the West End.
“Traffic in that area is already such a problem that we had a study done looking at ways that we can solve the traffic problem up there. This is just going to exacerbate that problem,” said Logan.
Councilor-at-Large Kathleen McMenimen spoke against the current project proposal, citing the size of the project as a particular concern. McMenimen suggested breaking the main replacement up into smaller projects.
“I’m not going to be as kind as the other councilors have been because what I am looking at is the biggest disaster I’ve seen in a long time,” said McMenimen.
One abutter to the South Street project, Alan Zaremba, spoke at the Monday night meeting. He voiced concerns over how the construction might impact his neighborhood and life and asked about how disruptive the project might be.
Later in the meeting McMinmen predicted the project would be “horrendously disruptive.”
Improved safety expected
Ward 6 Councilor Sean Durkee offered a different perspective on the projects by focusing on the safety improvements the work will yield.
Durkee pointed out the dangers of gas leaks and cited a map of gas leaks along South Street.
“There is a map of gas leaks throughout the city and there are hundreds of them. Along South Street there are approximately six Grade 1 leaks,” he said.
HEET, a nonprofit organization, defines a Grade 1 leak as “hazardous and must be repaired immediately. This includes leaks in or near a contained space, such as a building or manhole, where the gas could build up enough to potentially explode.” HEET compiles a map of gas leaks in the state.
The map, which is updated yearly, can be viewed here.
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