Some South Street construction finishes this week, but more to come around the city 

A number of traffic projects, including four on Waltham’s South Side, have recently wrapped up or will finish this week, but there’s a full docket of construction projects coming up this summer and fall.

This is according to Public Works Director Michael Chiasson and City Engineer Robert Winn, who on Monday updated the City Council’s Public Works and Public Safety Committee on all construction affecting city streets this season.

Chiasson said the Department of Public Works had just finished paving Hartwell Street and Bradford Street. It has another five projects finishing this week, plus pavement restoration from National Grid on three South Side streets.

Project	Ward	Completion date	Who’s in charge?
Hartwell Street	Ward 7	June 1	DPW
Bradford Street	Ward 1	June 1	DPW
Harris Street	Ward 6	June 3	DPW
Charles Street	Ward 5, 9	June 4-5	DPW
Cherry Street pavement restoration	Ward 8	June 7	National Grid
Ash Street pavement restoration	Ward 8	June 7	National Grid
Robbins Street pavement restoration	Ward 8	June 7	National Grid
Adams Street	Ward 8	June 5-9	DPW

The DPW has only five more projects slated for this summer, with work expected to finish by August. National Grid also plans to complete various sidewalk restoration projects around the city over the summer, as well as another project on Adams Street by August.

Meanwhile, Winn reported that most of the Engineering Department’s projects are more long term or have yet to start. The city’s Engineering Department expects to finish its annual work replacing smaller water pipes in the city by summer’s end. The Engineering Department is working on seven streets, most of which fall in the South Side. It has already put the projects out to bid. 

Project	Ward	Completion date	Who’s in charge?
Fuller Street pavement restoration	Ward 8	June	DPW
Stone Road/Chaffee Avenue	Ward 4	June	DPW
Hardy Pond Road/Pine Vale Road	Ward 3	July	DPW
Seminole Avenue	Ward 2	July	DPW
Adams Street (sidewalks, planting, road striping)	Ward 8	July	DPW
7-107 Adams Street	Ward 8	August	National Grid
Sidewalk restoration around the city		Summer	National Grid
Bolton Street	Ward 9	Summer	Engineering
Caughey Street	Ward 1	Summer	Engineering
Clinton Street	Ward 9	Summer	Engineering
Cutter Street	Ward 9	Summer	Engineering
Day Street	Ward 9	Summer	Engineering
Graymore Road	Ward 3	Summer	Engineering
Mt. Pleasant Street	Ward 6	Summer	Engineering

Winn said the Engineering Department’s ongoing work at the former Fernald State School property won’t be finished until next year. He added that he expects to send out bids soon for two additional projects that may come with traffic impacts: green infrastructure improvements at the Embassy Parking Lot and improvements to the Hardy Pond outlet.

Chiasson also updated councilors on utilities projects planned for the fall and beyond, including two projects from National Grid starting in late June that do not yet have a clear end date; additional projects from National Grid scheduled for completion between September and May; and work by electric company Eversource along Main Street, which won’t involve digging up any part of the street. 

In response to councilors’ request for more details about National Grid’s plans to repave streets. Chiasson said the company is filling in the areas where its crews had worked and will return next season to pave over the same areas. He said this was a new procedure, which he believed may be the result of complaints National Grid received from multiple municipalities where it works.

Ward 1 Councilor Anthony LaFauci asked whether the city could repave the rest of these streets at the same time, getting the street completely repaved at a discounted cost. Chiasson said this would be possible, but he doesn’t have funding to do such a project, as the city chooses streets to repave based on ward councilors’ suggestions.

Project	Ward	Completion date	Who’s in charge?
Felton Street and side roads	Ward 5, 9	September	National Grid
Massasoit Street	Ward 5	November	National Grid
Bacon Street	Ward 1, 6	December	National Grid
Main Street (90, 610, 894, 1122)	Ward 5, 6, 7	December	Eversource
32 Massasoit Street	Ward 5	December	Eversource
Lincoln Street at Hibiscus Street	Ward 2	Undetermined. Starts June 22	National Grid
Church Street from Main to Summer streets	Ward 6	Undetermined. Starts June 22	National Grid
Stearns Hill Road	Ward 2	May 2027	National Grid
200 Trapelo Road	Ward 4	2027	Engineering

Chiasson said there’s even more utilities work on the horizon. The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority has plans to repair and replace water mains in the city between September and May for the next three years. The first stage of its work, on Felton, Bellevue and Sun streets, is scheduled for this year, and dependent on National Grid completing its current gas work on Felton in time.

National Grid also plans to do gas main work on Newton, South and Main streets in the future, although the company has not set starting dates for any of these projects.

The Main Street project has already come before City Council, and the Licenses and Franchises Committee preliminarily approved plans for it this week. Still, it imposed conditions on the project, including that the company get approval from the Traffic Committee, which includes Chiasson. Chiasson said the department wants to make sure National Grid’s Main Street work doesn’t start before construction on Felton Street is complete to preserve avenues for east-west traffic.

Project	Ward	Completion date	Who’s in charge?
Felton Street and side roads	Ward 5, 9	May 2027	MWRA
Bellevue and Sun streets	Ward 9	May 2027	MWRA
Newton Street from Main to River streets	Ward 5	Undetermined	National Grid
South Street from Vernon to Dartmouth streets	Ward 7, 9	Undetermined	National Grid
Main Street from Grant Street to Banks Square	Ward 5, 6	Undetermined	National Grid
Hardy Pond Outlet	Ward 2	Undetermined	Engineering
Embassy Parking Lot	Ward 9	Undetermined	Engineering
Waverly Oaks Road	Wards 4, 6	May 2028	MWRA
Waverly Oaks Road	Wards 4, 6	May 2029	MWRA

Keeping rats in check during construction

The committee also asked Chiasson and Winn, as well as Health Department Director Michelle Feeley and Deputy Director Tommy Creonte, about rat mitigation work on all of these projects.

Creonte said there are many factors that attract rodents to the city, including its proximity to the Charles River, which serves as a convenient source of water and shelter. Still, he said, construction definitely “seems to get [rats] moving.” He asked that any project disturbing the ground have a rat mitigation plan. 

Winn also clarified previous comments about rodenticide use on construction projects; he said the city doesn’t use rodenticide on its property or in projects its workers carry out, but may hire contractors that use it as part of their mitigation during construction. He said contractors must obtain licenses to use rodenticide traps, and only use them in areas where they’ve seen significant rodent activity using nonrodenticide bait boxes. He said he can only recall one recent instance where a contractor used such a trap.