“On behalf of the city manager’s office, thank you for all these projects in the city of Worcester,” said Jacob Sanders, a representative of City Manager Edward M. Augustus Jr.’s office.
MassDOT representatives held the public hearing on a draft update of the capital plan Wednesday evening at Union Station, soliciting public input before the final plan is presented to the MassDOT board of directors in June.
The plan for 2018-2022 focuses on projects in three areas: reliability, modernization and expansion. About 59 percent of projects are focused on reliability.
“Clearly the focus is on investing in the current system,” said Stephen Woelfel, deputy director of planning at MassDOT, in giving an overview of the plan
Worcester is scheduled to receive $112 million for 15 projects under the plan, some of which are already in progress. MassDOT officials cited the work on Interstate 190 in Greendale and the Route 9 Belmont Street Bridge as examples.
The Worcester Regional Transit Authority is also set to receive $740,000 for reliability projects and $170,000 for modernization projects, according to the plan.
The region is also represented with a project to divide and widen Route 20 in Charlton and Oxford.
“Thank you for this project,” said Charlton Town Administrator Robin L. Craver.
About 15 people attended the hearing, which is one of a dozen being held across the state. The agency said more than 1,100 comments on the plan already have been received.
http://www.telegram.com/news/20170517/state-airs-17b-plan-for-transportation-improvements
