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July 30. 2012 11:07PM
Nashua officials to review Broad Street Parkway project contracts
NASHUA — With construction of the new Broad Street Parkway slated to begin in the spring or early summer of 2013, city officials are expected to review two contracts this week that will jump-start the extensive project.
On Wednesday, the city’s Finance Committee will be presented with proposed contracts for environmental engineering services and structural engineering services totaling more than $342,000.
The ultimate goal of the nearly two-mile roadway is to connect Broad Street to the downtown area by allowing motorists to bypass Amherst Street via a second crossing of the Nashua River, possibly attracting more business and people to the Millyard Technology Park.
According to paperwork on file at Nashua City Hall, environmental services are needed to determine what underground hazardous materials exist — primarily asbestos — within the roadway corridor.
Other services are needed to “work with the roadway designers to mitigate impacts, to perform testing of groundwater to determine whether a groundwater management permit is likely to be needed and to conduct building material surveys of buildings, which will be demolished,” says a memo dated July 23 to Mayor Donnalee Lozeau.
City Engineer Stephen Dookran is recommending that the environmental contract be awarded to Sanborn Head & Associates, in the amount of $267,300.
Some of the work includes collecting and analyzing soil samples both north and south of the Nashua River, in the Millyard and within the vicinity, with soil borings between 5 to 10 feet below ground, according to the proposed contract.
Asbestos contamination will also be analyzed near the parkway’s intersection with Broad Street, near the former Fimbel Door site and the intersection with Baldwin Street. If a property is identified as needing remedial action, a remedy to address the contamination will be drafted, says the contract. The objective is to limit potential future exposures of contaminated soil and asbestos, it adds.
Two phases of environmental site assessments will be conducted by the firm to identify radon, asbestos, lead-based paint, lead in drinking water, mold and other biological agents. The final report will be submitted to the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services.
The layout and alignment of the future 1.8-mile, two-lane urban roadway has already been designed, and engineers are working on the proposed drainage system for the $64.5 million Broad Street Parkway.
Aside from environmental work, a proposed contract for structural engineering services in the amount of $75,132 to Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc., is also being recommended by Dookran.
Specifically, the design submittals for three bridges and three retaining walls will be reviewed for structural safety, including the Baldwin Street Bridge, Fairmount Street Bridge and Nashua River Bridge. The retaining walls are near Broad Street, adjacent to the Nashua River near the Nashua River Bridge, and adjacent to the railroad.
The roadway project was accepted by the Board of Aldermen in 2008, and $37 million in funding was approved by voters the following year for construction work. Federal funds are paying for the remainder of the project.
The future roadway is expected to span from Broad Street near Exit 6 just north of the Nashua River and continuing east running parallel to an existing railroad track. The road will then slope southeast and slightly curve while crossing the Nashua River near Technology Way along Pine Street past Central Street and continuing toward the end of Pine and Palm streets.
Construction is expected to begin in the spring or early summer of 2013, with roadway completion by the end of 2014.
Demolition of the Boiler House building in Nashua’s Millyard was the first sign that the Broad Street Parkway is moving forward, allowing way for the new road. Other minor construction work is being done on Pine and Palm streets to help prepare for the new layout of the road.
khoughton@newstote.com
On Wednesday, the city’s Finance Committee will be presented with proposed contracts for environmental engineering services and structural engineering services totaling more than $342,000.
The ultimate goal of the nearly two-mile roadway is to connect Broad Street to the downtown area by allowing motorists to bypass Amherst Street via a second crossing of the Nashua River, possibly attracting more business and people to the Millyard Technology Park.
According to paperwork on file at Nashua City Hall, environmental services are needed to determine what underground hazardous materials exist — primarily asbestos — within the roadway corridor.
Other services are needed to “work with the roadway designers to mitigate impacts, to perform testing of groundwater to determine whether a groundwater management permit is likely to be needed and to conduct building material surveys of buildings, which will be demolished,” says a memo dated July 23 to Mayor Donnalee Lozeau.
City Engineer Stephen Dookran is recommending that the environmental contract be awarded to Sanborn Head & Associates, in the amount of $267,300.
Some of the work includes collecting and analyzing soil samples both north and south of the Nashua River, in the Millyard and within the vicinity, with soil borings between 5 to 10 feet below ground, according to the proposed contract.
Asbestos contamination will also be analyzed near the parkway’s intersection with Broad Street, near the former Fimbel Door site and the intersection with Baldwin Street. If a property is identified as needing remedial action, a remedy to address the contamination will be drafted, says the contract. The objective is to limit potential future exposures of contaminated soil and asbestos, it adds.
Two phases of environmental site assessments will be conducted by the firm to identify radon, asbestos, lead-based paint, lead in drinking water, mold and other biological agents. The final report will be submitted to the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services.
The layout and alignment of the future 1.8-mile, two-lane urban roadway has already been designed, and engineers are working on the proposed drainage system for the $64.5 million Broad Street Parkway.
Aside from environmental work, a proposed contract for structural engineering services in the amount of $75,132 to Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc., is also being recommended by Dookran.
Specifically, the design submittals for three bridges and three retaining walls will be reviewed for structural safety, including the Baldwin Street Bridge, Fairmount Street Bridge and Nashua River Bridge. The retaining walls are near Broad Street, adjacent to the Nashua River near the Nashua River Bridge, and adjacent to the railroad.
The roadway project was accepted by the Board of Aldermen in 2008, and $37 million in funding was approved by voters the following year for construction work. Federal funds are paying for the remainder of the project.
The future roadway is expected to span from Broad Street near Exit 6 just north of the Nashua River and continuing east running parallel to an existing railroad track. The road will then slope southeast and slightly curve while crossing the Nashua River near Technology Way along Pine Street past Central Street and continuing toward the end of Pine and Palm streets.
Construction is expected to begin in the spring or early summer of 2013, with roadway completion by the end of 2014.
Demolition of the Boiler House building in Nashua’s Millyard was the first sign that the Broad Street Parkway is moving forward, allowing way for the new road. Other minor construction work is being done on Pine and Palm streets to help prepare for the new layout of the road.
khoughton@newstote.com