More information on the $20 million rehabilitation project for Central Street was recently presented at a Peabody Area Chamber of Commerce legislative forum.
Kris Surrette of Tighe & Bond, an engineering and environmental consulting services company, said that the company has worked with the city on the project since 2017.
“These projects take years both in planning, securing the funding, design, and now we’re entering the all-important construction phase of the project,” Surrette said.
Surrette said Central Street sees about 28,000 cars on an average day.
“That is a tremendous amount of traffic,” Surrette said. “Central Street is really one of the key entry points into the city from surrounding North Shore communities and has a direct link to coastal areas on the North Shore, and it also directly services (bus routes) 114, 128, 129, and 1, so it’s a major contributor to Peabody and surrounding communities.”
Surrette said the Commonwealth has identified three “high crash” locations in the Central Street corridor.
He said that noting those locations and the amount of traffic on Central Street made the project eligible for state and federal funding.
“The real focal point of the project is Wilson Square,” Surrette said. “It’s about eight-tenths of a mile (in total) from Railroad Avenue and then extending to Pulaski Street.”
Surrette said that Tighe & Bond and the city worked together for years to secure funding through the state Department of Transportation.
“It’s a long process but in the end, the product and result is worth it,” Surrette said. “It’s a key part of the mayor’s vision for 2035 about increasing transportation and safety accommodations on a vital route such as Central Street.”
Surrette said that part of the project will focus on municipal infrastructure improvements, including to the area’s water main and drinking water.
He said that the city is also looking to address pedestrian-scale lighting in the area’s commercial areas.
“This was brought up several times, to increase pedestrian safety,” Surrette said.
Surrette said that one of the major components of the project is to make the surface more user-friendly for vehicles, transit services, and bicyclists.
“The pavement is in poor condition,” Surrette said. “That road has probably not had an overlay or pavement surface course in 20 years… It’s in a real state of disrepair. Over time it gets worse and worse.”
Additionally, Surrette said sidewalks are in poor condition, equipment for traffic signals is outdated, and there is a lack of bicycle facilities and pedestrian networks.
“Any sort of project now that receives state and federal funding has to have bicycle accommodations,” Surrette said.
Surrette added that it is “not your typical paving project.”
“This is a complete replacement of the corridor,” Surrette said. “It’s from back of sidewalk to back of sidewalk, and everything in the middle is pretty much new. New drinking water system, new drainage system, sidewalks, curbing, traffic signals, addition of street trees, landscape areas. So it is a real overhaul, not just a facelift.”
Surrette said Tighe & Bond and the city anticipate construction to end in October 2027, and that work will begin in the next month or so. “Heavy earthwork” such as full-depth road reconstruction and excavation won’t start until April to October of next year, he said.
“It will be slow to start,” Surrette said.
