Final Approval Means Ross Elementary Safe Routes to School Project Can Begin

The Town Council's approval of two easements on town land at Ross Elementary School means that a federally-funded Safe Routes to School project can break ground within the next few weeks with the goal of completion by September.

Councilors voted 7-0 to allow the use of two pieces of land at Ross for the project, which is aimed at making the roads and sidewalks near Ross safer for students at the only walking school in Braintree.

The $615,000 project is part of a program called Safe Routes to School that combines federal money and state resources with infrastructure improvement ideas spearheaded by local parents, schools and community leaders.

School Committee members last fall approved the two easements, and the only remaining requirement for the project to move forward was the council approval, Mayor Joseph Sullivan wrote in a letter to Council President Charles Kokoros earlier this month, expressing "urgency" that the vote be taken after many months of work on the project.

"I understand that the process of the Town granting an easement to the Town may seem redundant and unnecessary but we have been informed by MassDOT that this is a required step to ensuring that Federal Highway money is used as part of this project," Sullivan wrote.

Chief of Staff and Operations Peter Morin said the goal is to have the project completed by the start of the next school year.

All roads in the area will remain open during construction, though there will be some traffic disruptions, according to a report provided by the highway division of MassDOT during a public hearing last fall. The project requires 22 temporary and two permanent easements on private property surrounding the school.

It covers a distance of about 0.4 miles along Perry Road, Burroughs Road and at the intersection of Commercial Street/Elm Street/Hayward Street to the school entrance, the report says. The goal is to improve pedestrian and bicycle access and safety.

Along with a new 5-foot sidewalk sidewalk connection along the west side of Burroughs Road between Elm Street and Perry Road, and along the south side of Perry Road between Burroughs Road and Bower Road, the corner of Commercial and Hawyard will see major changes.

More on the project here: http://braintree.patch.com/articles/ross-school-intersection-improvement-could-begin-this-fall