NORTHAMPTON — Picture Main Street, a project planned to remake the city’s downtown, has been delayed at least another six months after the city was recently notified that Eversource installed gas lines that do not align with city plans.
The nearly $30 million project was planned to go out for bid in August 2026, after an earlier delay last year, but Northampton Planning & Sustainability Director Carolyn Misch said June 2027 is a more realistic timeline due to the gas line alignment. After the lines were installed last summer, Misch said the city was notified in November by an Eversource engineer that the lines may not be in the correct location.
“We’re all very eager to get over this little design glitch and get to the point where we can submit our plans, but it’s a major project,” Misch said. “Main Street is an old and very complicated piece of infrastructure, so it’s not unusual that you will find conflicts in an old street.”
The project has been lauded by city officials and Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra as a way to tackle several necessary improvements to the downtown area, aiming to modernize the accessibility and safety of Main Street. The city plans to expand the sidewalks, add separate bike lanes and reducing the number and size of lanes in both directions while eliminating multiple parking spaces.
The project also seeks to make infrastructure improvements such as water, sewer and stormwater upgrades which are currently more than a century old. The total project is estimated to cost close to $30 million, funded by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) along with federal money.
Misch said the city will also be using close to $4 million from the city’s water and sewer enterprise funds to make only water and sewer improvements on Main Street and many surrounding streets.
The large-scale project has raised concerns from residents mainly from a group known as Save Paradise City, who want to see a trial run of designs before changes are permanent. The city also previously launched the Pardon Our Progress initiative, or POP Committee, a group of experts and local leaders, focusing on ways to support businesses during construction.
Because of the “glitch,” Misch said the city will be digging approximately 20 “test pits” later this month to investigate where the gas lines were installed. She said at this point, it is unclear how far off the lines are from the city’s permitted design plans and the testing will reveal if plans need to be altered.
“We don’t know how many are not located right until we do the test pits. They’ve [Eversource] indicated that there are locations that conflict with our designs,” Misch said. “Instead of submitting the designs at the end of December we will get these test pits and determine if there are any necessary changes to designs.”
Misch estimated that design plans will now be completed before May this year and the gas line investigation is the only cause for the delay. Eversource did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday and Thursday.
Misch said the pits will be dug throughout Main Street and the testing should take approximately four days. Essentially, she said small holes are dug into the ground so workers can see where the gas lines are. The road will not be closed and there should be no issues with traffic, she noted.
Misch estimates that the testing will cost no more than $50,000. It has not been decided where the money will come from, but it will likely be somewhere from the city’s budget, she said.
“It’s definitely frustrating,” Mayor Sciarra said in a statement to the Gazette. “We were excited to submit our 100% plans and move forward with this critical project for downtown.”
Sciarra noted that right now the city will investigate the extent of Eversource’s “modifications” to the permitted gas lines and in the meantime, the city will continue to prepare for other aspects of the project.
“We’re eager to get this project underway and are responding to each challenge as quickly as we can, and we look forward to working cooperatively with Eversource to resolve these questions,” Sciarra said in a statement.
James “Jim” Winston, a member of Save Paradise City, first heard of the delay at a February Downtown Business Owner’s Forum, when Mayor Sciarra’s Chief of Staff Alan Wolf informed those in attendance. Winston hopes that the delay may lead to further consideration from city officials to have a trial run.
“Our group has long advocated and we still advocate for a trial run of this project,” Winston said. “Other towns, other communities have found a way to [do it], but we have not.”
Besides wanting to see a trial run, Winston said funding is another concern of the group. He said he wonders where funding for the test pits will come from and the security of the project’s overall state and federal funding, noting that construction costs can increase over time.
“Everybody wants a safe, vibrant city — a safe, vibrant Main Street,” Winston said. “Now the question is how to get there.”
While the estimated delay for the project to go out to bid is June 2027, Misch said it’s hard to put an exact time frame on a construction date.
“It’s just one step in the long MassDOT approval process,” Misch said about putting the project out to bid. “It’s not the final step because after that there’s what’s referred to as right of way plans, so there’s still submittals after that but it’s getting ever closer to the bidding.”
Misch explained the project’s funding is being stewarded by the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission (PVPC), which oversees certain projects for 43 municipalities in the area. Each year as projects progress, Misch said the commission allocates funding depending on the status of each project. Misch said all the funding for Picture Main Street has been “programmed,” it’s just a matter now of getting the project out to bid.
The project’s funding is divided into different funding rounds. The first $16 million of state and federal funds was previously delayed and Misch said the PVPC is currently deciding which projects to allocate funds to for the year. But the funding is still planned to be awarded once the project goes out to bid, she said.
“They’re [PVPC] working on that schedule now for all 43 cities and towns in the Valley but this is all programming for that money, the money actually isn’t obligated until the project is advertised,” Misch explained.
PVPC Spokesperson Kate Norton said the Picture Main Street project will be discussed at the PVPC’s Metropolitan Planning Organization’s March 24 meeting. She said she cannot speak to the likelihood that the project gets awarded funds for the upcoming year.
The remaining $13 million to pay for the downtown redesign would be awarded as the project moves ahead.
When asked if residents should be concerned about the future of the project’s funding, Misch said with state and federal funding it is standard for any municipality to not be 100% certain it is secured. She said the funding is in the pipeline, but construction costs can rise with inflation.
“No project anywhere in the commonwealth, until MassDOT advertises,” is official, Misch said, noting that there could be a pandemic or an emergency. “No matter what always since I’ve been working here, that’s been the gig.”
