Seeing a lot of roadwork in Fall River? Thanks to influx of funding, more is on the way

FALL RIVER — As the dog days of summer move along, so do the myriad road, underground utilities and sidewalk-related projects in Fall River.

And more are on the way.

With a major overhaul of underground gas utilities, annual Chapter 90 road improvement projects and an influx of COVID pandemic relief money, it's busy out there with detours and street closings, but the inconveniences are temporary, said city Engineer Dan Aguiar. 

“The most projects that you’re seeing is Liberty Utilities work for the replacement of gas mains and services. They have an algorithm for leak detection. They prioritize the projects so that we don’t have a Columbia Gas situation like they had up north. They’re being very proactive with replacing all of the gas lines. Is it inconvenient? Sure,” said Aguiar.

Aguiar was referring to the horrific September 2018 gas explosion in Lawrence, Andover and North Andover that killed one person, injured 22 and damaged homes and businesses. 

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Aguiar held up a large map of Fall River he made showing color-coded areas where utility projects and city-run street and water and sewer projects are in various stages of completion.

On Rodman Street near the corner of Plymouth Avenue, crews were working Thursday and Friday. Despite a large neon sign warning of the road closure and to find alternate routes, some drivers were clearly confused. One driver managed to bypass cones on Plymouth Avenue, preventing cars from turning on to Rodman Street.

A patient police officer on a detail at the work site redirected the driver.

“People make mistakes,” said the officer.

The work on Rodman has been disruptive and, starting this week, the work by Liberty Utilities will perform the work all at night, which had to be authorized, said Aguiar.

How the work is done

Aguiar said first, Liberty Utilities prioritizes areas where they will replace utilities, then they install the new utility and put on a temporary patch.

The following season, crews are back at those sites to place the final pavement cap, said Aguiar.

He said he works daily with Liberty Utilities, and showed a list with 20 streets that will be getting the final pavement patches this summer.

“When these are done, I think most of them will be finished at the end of the day on Friday. They’ll be doing more through the summer ... but they just keep going,”

How the public is alerted about roadwork

This summer the city has been trying to be proactive about alerting the public to roadwork going on all over the city.

Aguiar said information can be found on the city’s website. The Fall River Police Department often posts daily alerts on streets that will be closed, and he said the local radio station also gives updates.

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“Even all the detours and how frustrating it can be, we meet every week or two and talk about complaints regarding detours not being signed correctly, not the right details and not getting enough direction,” said Aguiar. “So, we are trying to get everybody involved to be at the top of their game.”

ARPA funding to be used for some projects

Turning to his map of Fall River, Aguiar noted the blue markings that represent the city’s water and sewer replacement projects, which have been the subject of much discussion in the administration and funded in part with American Rescue Plan Act funding. 

On Aguiar’s list of those projects, he’s identified 17 that will be worked on this summer.

“With ARPA funding, the water main replacement program, those roads will be reconstructed completely, so those roads won’t be just patches,” Aguiar said. “That’s a lot of streets.”

Currently the city with its Chapter 90 money from the state for street improvements are underway and nearing completion, said Aguiar.

Those eight projects include President Avenue, New Boston Road, Broadway and Robeson Street.

How they decide which streets get repaired

Aguiar held up a long list of roads and streets identified as needing improvement.

“We go out every year and we add to the list we’ve had before and we add to it the streets that really need work. We evaluate potholes, drain obstruction, anything on the street, and then we rank them,” said Aguiar.

But like a dance, the engineering department has to coordinate those projects with utility and water and sewer work.

“If they are going to be getting utilities or water and sewer, we disqualify them for now,” said Aguiar.

By the end of business on Friday, Aguiar’s final short list wasn’t yet finalized for the next round of Chapter 90 projects and other funding sources.

“I’ll pick the worst of the worst based upon the funding that we get. So right now, we have approximately $3 million in funding,” said Aguiar.

The previous round of projects that are being completed were some of the city’s largest thoroughfares.

“This year I’m trying to look at some of the shorter streets that really take a beating,” said Aguiar.

Jo C. Goode may be reached at jgoode@heraldnews.com. Support local journalism and subscribe to The Herald News today!

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Fall River road improvement, utility projects disrupt traffic