Royalston Road Engineering Gains Approval

Royalston Road Engineering Gains Approval
Officials OK $130K from Chapter 90
Eryn Dion
News Staff Writer

TEMPLETON  The Board of Selectmen voted this week to commit $130,000 out of the town’s Chapter 90 account for the first phase of the major reconstruction project planned for Royalston Road.

Eric Bernadin, vice president at engineering firm Fuss & O’Neill, gave the board a brief overview of the expansive project, which will cover approximately 2 1/2 miles of road and cost between $4.5 million and $6 million to complete. As the amount is well beyond the town’s budgetary capacity and Chapter 90 allowance, the project will need to be submitted to the state’s Tran­sportation Improve­ment Prog­ram list to wait for funding.

“Because this is a multi-year process, we’ve broken it into a couple of different phases,” Mr. Bernadin said.

The first phase, expected to begin next month, will include the survey work, engineering analysis and submission to the TIP list for future funding. Mr. Bernadin said the road, with its tight right-of-ways and half-dozen wetlands crossings, will require extensive reworking to meet MassDOT standards.

“The project does have a few unique challenges,” he said.

Because of the road’s advanced deterioration and the presence of large boulders under the existing asphalt, Mr. Bernadin said the current road would likely be ground up and reclaimed, forming part of the sub-base for the new road.

As there are no curb cuts and a limited number of residents living on the stretch, Mr. Bernadin said the entire road would likely need to be lifted between 6 and 18 inches, depending on the amount of erosion.

The project’s second and largest phase will likely start next year and include creating engineering documents and obtaining environmental permitting, with project bidding forming the last phase.

The total engineering cost for the project is estimated at between $400,000 and $433,000.

According to interim Town Administrator Bob Markel, the best-case scenario for the town would see the project approved for funding by the Metropolitan Planning Organization during fiscal 2017.