City Council - public_hearing

Okay, we're gonna get started. Thank you for joining us. This meeting is going to begin now. Good evening. My name is Linda Walsh. I am the MassDOT project manager for the proposed Fall River Safe Routes to School project at the Mary L. Fonseca Elementary School that will be presented this evening. I work in the project management section at the Massachusetts Department of Transportation Highway Division headquarters in Boston. Tonight's meeting is the MassDOT Safer School Design Public Hearing for improvements at the Mary L. Fonseca Elementary School in Fall River, project file number 612101. During this presentation, we will explain the purpose of the hearing, provide an overview of the right-of-way procedures, and present the project design, and open it up to questions and comments. Finally, we will explain how you can submit your comments and questions about the project. Comments received within 10 business days of an in-person hearing will be concluded with the official hearing transcript. Once the hearing is completed this evening, the attendance sheet will become part of the public record. So if you would like your attendance at this hearing to be part of the public record, please sign in on the sign-in sheet located on the table and being passed around the room. Handouts containing details regarding this project are next to the sign in sheet. There are also plans there that can be reviewed by the public after the hearing concludes. While this public hearing is not being recorded, the Massachusetts Transportation Department may choose to retain the distribution images, audio, and or Q&A transcript. I will correct that. While this hearing is being recorded by the City of Fall River Cable Department and our transcriptionist, We have the recording, but we will not be able to take any Q&A from the recording, only from the public in person. All parts of this hearing are considered public record. The hearing will be open to questions and answers at the end of the formal presentation. All questions and comments are welcome and appreciated. However, we do request that you refrain from any disrespectful comments. All MassDOT activities, including public meetings, are free of discrimination. MassDOT complies with all federal and state civil rights requirements, preventing discrimination based on sex, race, color, ancestry, national origin, limited English proficiency, religion, creed, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or expression, or veteran status. We welcome diversity from across our entire service area. If you have any questions or concerns, please visit our website at www.mass.gov forward slash nondiscrimination hyphen in hyphen transportation program to reach the Office of Diversity and Civil Rights. Thank you for joining our meeting. We appreciate your participation. The purpose of this hearing is to provide an assured method whereby the Commonwealth of Massachusetts can furnish information concerning the state's roadway construction projects and to afford every interested resident of the area an opportunity to be heard on any proposed project. At the same time, the hearings afford the Commonwealth an opportunity to receive information from local sources, which would be of value to the state in making its final decisions about what design should be advanced for development. We have provided an agenda for the presentation. Our presentation will provide a brief overview of the project timeline, state the goals and objectives we look to accomplish, identify project scope, discuss the right of way process, and outline construction procedures. Finally, we will discuss how to contact the project team. Here is the agenda for the presentation. Project timeline, design goals and objectives, alternatives review, next steps, right-of-way impacts, bicyclists and pedestrian impacts, environmental impacts, construction and roadway operations, questions and answers Now I'd like to introduce the members of our presentation panel. Again, I am Linda Walsh, the MassDOT project manager. Also representing MassDOT, we have Nathan Mangelson from MassDOT District 5 office and Nancy Knight from our right-of-way section. Representing the design consultant team from PARP Co-op, we have Amy Archer and Kyle Stanley. from the city of fall river we have daniel aguirre director of engineering and planning and the city engineer lastly we have becky barron from advanced court reporting taking a verbatim transcript of tonight's hearing A project flyer has been prepared and posted to the MassDOT website along with the meeting notice. You will find that this documentation may be useful to you in understanding the project and submitting formal comments in response to this presentation. MassDOT's public notice of the Design Public Hearing appeared in the Fall River Herald News on June 9th and June 16th and the Standard Times South Coast Today on June 9th and June 16th, 2026. A copy of this notice will be attached to the final hearing transcript. Additionally, notices and flyers were posted on the MassDOT website and shared through additional channels including the MassDOT and City's website, and social media platforms. At this time, I will turn the presentation over to Amy Archer, a PowerCorp team member, who will describe the project and the proposed design. Please keep in mind that the project we are presenting is still in the 25% design stage. Once Amy is done explaining the proposed design, I'll explain the hearing procedures and then open the hearing to your questions and comments. which we will take into consideration when completing the project design. Please hold your questions until after the presentation.

Thank you, Linda. My name is Amy Archer. I'm a managing engineer at Parr Corporation, and I'll be walking you through the project background and the proposed improvements for the Mary L. Fonseca Safe Routes to School project. First, we'll review the milestones that brought us to this point. An initial Safe Routes to School for state aid approval was granted based on conceptual design as part of a complete application that the school was involved with. To advance the project to and through design from there, MassDOT held a scoping session and site walk in May of 2024 with Parr Corporation, where the initial concept was discussed and project goals and site constraints were verified. In May of 2025, with site-specific variables accounted for, an updated design and 25% design package were submitted to MassDOT and the City. Following their review, a site walk was held with Parr Corporation, MassDOT, and the respective utility companies to discuss the proposed design. That brings us to today, presenting the preliminary design to all of you. The project is located at the Mary L. Fonseca Elementary School and the surrounding neighborhoods along North Quarry Street, London Street, and North Wall Street in Fall River. The work is focused on sections of sidewalk, curb ramp, and crosswalk improvements on the streets that surround the school. Also included within the limits of our project is the intersection of Bedford Street, North Quarry Street, and Quarry Street. The project includes this intersection to create safe access to and from the Boys and Girls Club. The work at this intersection will focus on curb ramps, signal modifications, and restriping of the intersection. Before we get into further detail of the proposed design, we'll first review why the project is being advanced and discuss the existing issues with the project's roadways. Here at the intersection of Bedford Street, Quarry Street, and North Quarry Street, the existing curb ramps are non-compliant and striping is heavily faded. Additionally, the traffic signal equipment is outdated. Further, the centerline striping for the westbound approach on Bedford Street is misaligned with the eastbound approach. On all project roadways, curb ramps do not meet compliancy. Existing crosswalk striping is in poor condition and no bicycle accommodations are present within the project limits. On North Quarry Street, the sidewalk on the east side of the road is in poor condition and is not wide enough in some areas to accommodate two-way pedestrian travel. Sidewalks on London Street and North Wall Street are in good condition. The existing crossing locations, however, on London Street and North Wall Street are sporadic and require students and other pedestrians to walk excessive distances to cross the roadways and access the school. Parking also exists on both sides of these roadways. With the existing issues and needs identified, we can now move on to what the project intends to accomplish and the design objectives guiding our work. We have a few primary goals, and the focus is simple and aligned with the Safe Routes to School program. We seek to improve safety and accessibility for students, families, and members of the neighborhood walking and biking to and from the Marielle Fonseca Elementary School. Pedestrian facilities should meet all applicable accessibility requirements and provide the minimum accessible clear path of travel. Ramps and crosswalks should be present where there is a desire for pedestrians to cross. Our proposed project is intended to rebuild and improve the project area so that walking, biking, and school access conditions are safer, clearer, and more consistent. Next I'll go over the alternatives that were considered for this project and which ones are advancing in the preferred design. At the major intersection of Bedford Street, North Quarry Street, and Quarry Street, we explored two alternatives. The first was to maintain the existing layout and only reconstruct the curb ramps and sidewalks to meet ADA compliance. The second alternative would address current standards for signalization and identified operational concerns that were identified in the area. The current intersection experiences issues with turning movements from Bedford Street and the Bedford Street approaches are not aligned. Along North Quarry Street, we looked at three alternatives. The first alternative would maintain the existing roadway width. To do so and still provide the pedestrian and bicycle accommodation that we intend to add to this project, there would have been impacts to the properties along the east side of the corridor. The second alternative considered narrowed the roadway to a 20-foot width, allowing a 10-foot side path and a 2-foot grass buffer within the right-of-way. The third alternative considered in this area was to develop a narrow roadway to 22 feet in width. This provides an eight foot side path and a two foot concrete buffer. Along North Wall Street, which serves as a primary access point to the eastern side of the school and is also the prime location for student drop-off and pickup, two alternatives were considered. The first alternative would maintain on-street parking and the one-way circulation that exists today. A second alternative considered bicycle accommodations along North Wall Street as either a side path or a dedicated bike lane. Given the multiple access points to the school that separate students by grade upon drop off, we also considered converting the stairway from North Wall down to the school's parcel and converting it into a ramp. I also want to note at this point that for all three roadways adjacent to the school, North Quarry, London, and North Wall, crossing location improvements were reviewed and proposed regardless of the cross section being considered. So which alternative are we moving forward with? I'll cover this over the next several slides. After considering all the project components and constraints, the preferred alternative at the intersection of Bedford Street, Quarry Street, and North Quarry Street includes proposed signal upgrades, reconstruction of all the curb ramps and the sidewalk to meet compliancy, and restriping that westbound approach of Bedford Street to better align with the lanes on the west side of the road. As an added benefit, this allows for the development of a dedicated bus pull-off lane along the westbound approach on Bedford Street. Due to right-of-way impacts that would be associated with maintaining the roadway width, the first alternative was not selected. Additionally, this alternative would not have provided traffic calming measures or buffer between roadway users and more vulnerable users, being the pedestrians and bicyclists. original concept from the application that the school had submitted was also not selected the reduction in roadway width to 20 feet as we advanced the design further would not allow for turning movements of vehicles that traverse this corridor and need to access parcels particularly along the west side of the road Striking a balance between the two, we're choosing the alternative that narrows the roadway to 22 feet. This provides a total of 10 feet beyond the curb. A two foot buffer encourages students traveling to and from the school to maintain an offset from the edge of road and increases their safety. On North Wall Street, it was identified that both the on-street parking and drop-off pickup operation are critical to the school's operation and the nearby community, and these were identified to be maintained. North Wall Street extends just a short distance in our project limits between London Street and Locust Street, and the corridor does not therefore necessitate bicycle accommodation along its length. The critical component here is making connections from the neighborhood, particularly the housing authority across North Wall Street and over to the school. The staircase to ramp conversion that we had considered was not selected to advance either. This would have had substantial impact to the school property and an alternate means of making an accessible connection towards the building has been identified. So with these selected alternatives, the visual on the screen now is a typical section of what will be constructed along North Quarry Street within the project limits. To further illustrate the scope of our proposed work and the selected alternatives, several colorized figures have been prepared and will show on the following slides. these images cement concrete sidewalks and buffers are shown in blue areas of limited roadway paving or hma are shown in a dark gray color also on most of these slides north is to the right in the plan view and north is up in the key on the right side of the slide here at the intersection of bedford street north quarry and quarry We can see that the improvements include all of the ramps at the intersection as well as the path continuing north along the east side of North Quarry Street. In addition, we will be upgrading the signal to increase the size and visibility of all of the signal heads. This configuration also moves the poles to allow for adequate ADA clearance. As noted, the preferred alternative on North Quarry Street includes a proposed 8-foot wide side path and a 2-foot buffer. This serves the main access to and from the school. The roadway will be narrowed to the 22 feet mentioned earlier, and this will be done by shifting the eastern curb line to accommodate the path. The path will transition back to the existing sidewalk width at both of its termini, Bedford Street and Locust Street. The sidewalk on the west side of North Quarry Street is in good condition and will be retained throughout the project. The curb ramps along North Quarry Street are proposed to be reconstructed. High visibility crossings and retroreflective signage are proposed along the corridor. The existing crossings in this corridor are also being shifted to meet those desire lines. The first one is at the intersection with London Street. The crosswalk will be repositioned to the north side of London Street, allowing students to access the building without having to cross the road again further east on London. Crossings have also been relocated in the vicinity of the school's driveway loop. This provides more direct access to the entrance of the school and reduces vehicular conflict. The existing vehicle operations on North Quarry Street will be maintained as the project advances. New centerline striping is proposed along North Quarry Street due to the shifted lanes and resurfacing is proposed in the areas of removed and proposed crosswalks. This will help eradicate old pavement markings where crosswalks are being removed and it will provide a smooth surface in areas of new crossings. The proposed side path continues along the east side of North Quarry all the way to the intersection with Locust Street. Along London Street, crosswalks are being repositioned to better align with desire lines and improve the safety of the students. The existing crosswalk is shifted west, moving it out of the bus drop-off area. This also shortens the crossing distance. A crosswalk is added at the intersection of London Street and North Wall Street to enhance the connection of the neighborhood on the south side. Along North Wall Street, the existing cross section will remain. The on-street parking will continue to be permitted on both sides of the road. Compliant curb ramps are provided at all proposed crossing locations. The sidewalk on both sides of this roadway is in good condition and will be retained. New signage and high visibility pavement markings at the crossings will be provided. The crossing at the school driveway is proposed to be relocated southerly, putting it south of the driveway, again moving it away from the most vehicle conflict. A new crossing is proposed along North Wall Street in the vicinity of the intersection with Beauregard Street. The existing curb ramps at the intersection of North Wall Street and Locust Street are currently not up to ADA compliance. Therefore, they will be reconstructed as the final component of work within the project limits. At this point I'll hand it back to Linda.

Thank you, Amy. How has our design progressed? Following tonight's hearing, the project team will review the comments received and document responses as the design advances. We appropriate the plans will be refined and then progress through the remaining design submissions of final design plan specs and estimates we expect to receive the next combined design submission in September of 2026 followed by final design in January of 2027 and we will advertise the project in approximately December of 2027 followed by construction beginning in the summer of 2028 After design is complete and all required approvals are in place, MassDOT will proceed with implementation consistent with the schedule and funding program. How will your property be impacted? The city of Fall River is responsible for all right-of-way acquisitions on both public and private lands for the design and construction of this project. Property owners who are affected by the project will be contacted by the city to go over the right-of-way requirements in detail. Procedures must comply with both federal and state regulations. This project requires both temporary and permanent easements on both public and private property. Temporary easements are needed for grading, where minor permanent easements will be needed for side path and sidewalk construction. And we will also need easements for utilities, including guy wires. I'll now turn it over to MassDOT's right-of-way representative, Nancy Knight, to talk more about the right-of-way procedures.

Thank you, Linda. When the Commonwealth, acting through its Massachusetts Department of Transportation Highway Division, indicated it would accept this project for funding, the City of Fall River accepted certain responsibilities. One of these responsibilities is acquiring the necessary rights in private and public lands for the design, construction, and public use of this project. My function is to review and recommend procedures that the City of Fall River will use in acquiring these rights. The procedures used must comply with both federal and state regulations. Affected property owner's rights are protected under Mass General Laws, primarily Chapter 79. And because this project is receiving federal funds, the property owner's rights are further defined under Title III of the Real Property Act of 1970 as amended. The 25% preliminary right-of-way plan submission indicates that the project requires zero fee acquisitions, 14 permanent easements, and 21 temporary easements. Please understand, however, that right-of-way plans are subject to change as the project design progresses. The property owners impacted by this project will be contacted by the City of Fall River officials who will present the proposed impacts to each owner and discuss the methods by which the needed rights for the project may be acquired. Frequently, municipalities will appeal for donations to minimize the acquisition cost for the community. Donations, however, are not required, and property owners are entitled to appraisal, review appraisal, and just compensation. Right-of-way documents will be provided to each owner to help them understand the acquisition process and how the project affects their property. I'll now turn it back over to you, Amy.

Thank you, Nancy. With the right-of-way overview complete, we'll return to the design itself. Summarize what these improvements mean for people walking and biking during everyday school travel once the construction is complete. Overall, our project is intended to make the corridor safer and more predictable for all users. In addition to the side path along North Quarry Street, the addition of the side path along North Quarry Street will provide greater space for pedestrians and bicyclists where higher volumes are expected. This is especially during school drop off and pick up time frames. The reconstructed sidewalk and updated curb ramps will provide more consistent and accessible path of travel to those going to and from the school. New signage, high visibility crosswalks, and updated markings will improve the visibility of pedestrians and bicyclists crossing the roadway. Our wetland scientists and permitting specialists have also reviewed the project area and the proposed design to assess potential environmental, cultural resource, and community impacts. As you can see in the design we've presented, there are impacts associated with this project. There are no anticipated impacts to wetlands or cultural and historic parcels or artifacts. We will not exceed MEPA thresholds. The scope is limited due to identified activity use limitations or AULs within our project limits. Let's shift to the construction, what the work generally will look like and how access will be maintained, what kind of short-term impacts you might expect while the improvements are being built. Construction of this project is fully funded and will be administered by MassDOT during construction. As shown here on this slide, federal funds cover 80% of the funding and the state will contribute the other 20%. The right-of-way acquisition costs will be the City's responsibility to pay, as Nancy outlined, as part of the project cost. From a construction standpoint, phasing will be coordinated closely with MassDOT, the City, and the School Department with a focus on maintaining safe access and minimizing disruption during school arrival and dismissal periods. Access to abutting homes, properties, and the school itself will be maintained throughout construction, with short duration shifts or localized restrictions as needed for specific operations. Based on the scope of our work, construction is anticipated to be substantially complete within one construction season, subject to final scheduling and field conditions. During construction, there will be periods of changing conditions. Temporary traffic control, potential shifts in where people walk and park, and occasional short-duration closures for paving-related operations will be needed. The next slide summarizes the types of measures typically used to manage these impacts. Temporary traffic control will be used to maintain safe travel for pedestrians, bicyclists, and vehicles on all roadways in the project limits. You may see signage, cones or barrels, and police details where needed. In some locations, sidewalks may need to be closed temporarily while concrete work or curb ramp reconstruction is underway. When this happens, the contractor will provide signed pedestrian detours or other accommodations to maintain access. There may also be short-duration roadway closure specific activities such as paving and the application of pavement markings. When disruptions are anticipated, the project team and MassDOT will coordinate with the city and school officials and provide advance notice to residents and other stakeholders. I'll now turn it back to Linda.

Thank you, Amy. How will we keep you informed? Following this evening's hearing, you can submit comments to me by filling out the form at the end of the hearing handout or by mailing it to the department within 10 business days of tonight's hearing. All comments received will be part of the hearing transcript. Please submit email comments to MassDOTProjectManagement at dot.state.ma.us For project information, visit the MassDOT Upcoming Events for Highway Divisions website at www.mass.gov slash orgs slash highway division slash events or use the QR code on the flyer on our website. Submit written comments to Carrie Lavalley, P.E., Chief Engineer, MassDOT, Ten Park Plaza, Boston, Mass. 02116. Attention project management, project file number 612101. Before I open the hearing to questions and comments, I would like to explain the hearing procedures. First, as stated previously, the purpose of this hearing is to solicit your input regarding this project. As the plans are not yet complete, we may not be able to answer all of your questions or respond to all your comments at this time. Next, we ask that anyone who wishes to have his or her comments entered into the official hearing transcript, please stand up, identify yourself by name and affiliation, whether you are an abutter or local official or concerned citizen, and spell your last name. This is necessary for us to obtain a full verbatim transcript as required by law. Also, the last sheet of the handout is a mailing sheet. If you have any questions or comments which you would like to submit in writing, please use this sheet for that purpose. You may leave it with me tonight or you may mail it to the department within 10 business days of this date and it will become part of the official transcript. Finally, it is normal procedure to ask elected officials to offer their comments first. Are there any federal, state, or local officials who would like to speak at this time? Seeing none, this hearing is now open to the public and we welcome your questions and comments.

all set good evening my name is dan aguiar i'm the director of engineering and planning for the city of fall river i just wanted to take a minute to thank the talented staff at mazdot and park corp for all of their work in this project as you can see on the timeline it dates back quite a few years already and these projects do take a while but with thoughtful questions and answers through that process i think we were able to put together a program and a project that will benefit the students pedestrians of all types and uses of the roadways that surround the school as well so again i want to thank all of you and reaching out to the public if you do have the ability to provide any questions or answers please don't please do so through the appropriate methods that nancy has provided thank you all do we have anyone else that would like to speak this evening

First, I just want to say please sign in if you have not. So we have a record of those who are here today for a stenographer to keep in her transcript. But if there are no other questions or comments, I'd like to remind you that the last sheet of the handout is a mail-in sheet. If you have any further questions or comments which you would like to submit, please email them to massdotprojectmanagementatdot.state.ma dot us or use this sheet for that purpose you may leave this sheet with me tonight or you may mail it to the department within 10 business days and it will become part of the official record Before I close this hearing, I would like to say that we will be here if you are interested in looking at the plans and we will try to respond to questions that affect you personally. Thank you very much for attending and for providing us with this facility. I declare this hearing closed at 7.32.