National Grid will be replacing natural gas lines to service a new development just over the town line in Belmont, but the project will impact users of two main roads in Watertown.
A representative from the utility appeared before the Town Council earlier this month to discuss the portion of the project in Watertown, which will go down Lexington Street. Then the project continues to Belmont Street.
In Watertown, the work will replace 350 feet of 12 inch gas line from Lexington Street at Warren Street to the island at Lexington and Belmont streets. A representative for National Grid at the meeting said the new gas line is needed to allow capacity for a new development in Belmont.
The project is the new residential development being built on Common Street between Belmont Street and Trapelo Road. In July the Belmont Selectmen approved the petition in their town, which will stretch 3,900 feet down Belmont Street. Some at the meeting complained that the project has already caused a lot of hassles for nearby residents, including trucks parking in front of their driveways since construction started in 2017, according to a Wicked Local Belmont story.
The Town Council wondered about when the project would take place in Watertown. Assistant Town Manager Steve Magoon said that he spoke with Department of Public Works Superintendent Gerry Mee, who said the work would likely take place before winter.
The National Grid representative said that the work would likely begin in Watertown before moving to Belmont Street.
Council Vice President Vincent Piccirilli asked if the road would be just patched, or repaved.
Magoon said that the roadway would be repaired, but he was not sue if it would be a full reconstruction of the road or if it is a mill-and-overlay, where the top layer is scraped up, ground up and laid down again in a new layer.
The Council voted unanimously to approve National Grid’s petition for the portion of the project in Watertown.
And all this time I thought they were trying to fix the gas leak on Lexington St. I have lived here for 15 yrs and there is always a smell of gas in the air and despite calls no one does anything about it but come out shrug there heads tear up the road and still the smell of gas is in the air.
hopefully they leave it in as awful shape as they did on highland st.
Magoon said that the roadway would be repaired, but he was not sure if it would be a full reconstruction of the road or if it is a mill-and-overlay, where the top layer is scraped up, ground up and laid down again in a new layer.
Ummmmm, “not sure” is NOT ACCEPTABLE. Town Manager should start doing his job, first by knowing what is actually going on in the town he is paid to serve and secondly, stop approving these contracts if the companies are going to leave the roads in even worse shape (which is hard to believe) than before they started. Why isn’t a full repair of the road mandatory? It’s not like National Grid is a small company with no money.
We need new leadership who will put the town before the construction companies and builders who come and go after they’ve made their money off Watertown. Tired of being a YES city to outsiders while residents pay the price and are left with more traffic, crappy roads and empty storefronts where small businesses used to operate.
You got it right, Erin. This government has not been effective in meeting development pressure in the town, nor have they been successful in getting mitigation from the many developers making a mint off their very valuable properties. We need more professional and knowledgeable people in government. “Not sure” is NOT ACCEPTABLE.
Between the constant digging, patching, filling, etc., the roads in Afghanistan are in better shape than around here.
So this means Lexington st will be closed indefinitely like it was all summer. This town needs to do a better job of notifying the residents of road closures. Its very frustrating not to know. They should have an up to date website with these closures posted. At times I have personally seen 6 or more road closures on one day this summer. This information would be critical for first responders in the event of emergency situations.