After a round of setbacks and appeals for waivers from the Planning Board, Michels Way will soon be open to the public.
“It just took time to get our act together,” said Attorney Ari Pollack, the spokesman for the Woodmont Development. He said the road should be open “by the end of the week.”
“We got a lot done this fall,” Pollack said. “The weather cooperated better than we had hoped.”
However, the contractors did not get to everything necessary for the road to open before now. During the Nov. 8 Planning Board meeting, Jeffrey Kevan from TR Morgan spoke with the board about applying for a waiver that would have opened the road to the public before Thanksgiving. The problem was the final layer of pavement, called a “wearing course” was not put down and the road was still lacking markings. According to the original agreement, these two measures were supposed to be completed before the public could access the road.
Kevan said the wearing course and marking would be installed during the 2018 construction season. To ensure this, the developer would put forward the money to complete the projects into an account as a show of good faith to the board, “The applicant will establish an escrow account for the installation of the pavement wearing course and permanent pavement markings,” according to the waiver application.
The Planning Board approved the waiver under the condition that an “appropriate financial guarantee” was submitted to the Department of Public Works and that the final pieces of construction are completed next year.
Pollack said the developer also had to wait to until safety measures for the sidewalk were installed to warn pedestrians about the change in grade down to the detention pond before the road could be opened to the public.
The lights for the road have been ordered and delivered, said Pollack. Residents can look forward to new lamp posts illuminating the new way out of the Market Basket plaza towards Pillsbury Road. Pollack believed the contractors were already working on installing them.
The final push to get Michels Way open before the holiday season has been a long time coming.
The rest of the construction, such as installing the wearing course of pavement and the street markings will happen in the spring, once things warm up. Pollack said he anticipates construction season starting in April, but it all depends on if the weather is just as friendly next year, as it was this year.
“I think everyone’s excited to see it open,” he said.