WILLIAMSBURG — A public forum Monday night on the proposed reconstruction of Mountain Street drew a substantial crowd.
Julia Peters is one of the Mountain Street residents with concerns about the state Department of Transportation’s preferred design for the project. That design, Alternative 5, which would widen a 2.8-mile stretch of Mountain Street, would require takings and easements.
“A lot of what we were asking for was the reconsideration of the MassDOT Alternative 5 design,” Peters said.
Town Administrator Nicholas Caccamo said at least 45 people signed in for the meeting.
“It was really a listening session,” Caccamo said. “The Select Board said very little.”
Peters is part of a group that has gathered more than 100 signatures on a petition that opposes Alternative 5. She said she and her fellow activists are asking the Select Board to send a letter in support of MassDOT revisiting Alternative 4.
“DOT is open to that,” Peters said.
Alternative 4 is another of the five designs that was presented at MassDOT’s June 16 hearing on the 25% design phase for the reconstruction. Unlike Alternative 5, it would largely stick to the paved area footprint of Mountain Street.
Select Board member William Sayre said Monday’s forum went well. “It was very good to hear from the citizens on that road,” Sayre said.
He also said that there were good, heartfelt statements on concerns about widening the road.
Peters noted that there’s active farming on the road, and that the community around the road wants to preserve it in its current footprint.
Sayre said the Select Board will discuss sending a letter to MassDOT on the reconstruction at its next meeting, which will start Thursday at 9 a.m.
The deadline to comment on the current phase of the project is July 16, although Caccamo noted that comments can be sent to MassDOT after that date as well.
Comments on the project can be sent to Patricia A. Leavenworth, P.E., Chief Engineer, via email at MassDOTProjectManagement@dot.state.ma.us or via mail to Suite 6340, 10 Park Plaza, Boston, MA 02116.
Caccamo said there are plans in August for MassDOT to host a forum on the project in Williamsburg.
Caccamo also said the current plans are going to change over time: “What we see is not going to be built tomorrow.”