Needham Street Work Delayed, Oak Street Work Still On

NEWTON, MA — When you think of Needham Street, you might think of the TJ Maxx, the Soup Factory, the New England Mobile Book Fair. But the traffic and the construction along the 2 mile corridor stretching from Route 9 into Needham might also come to mind.

For decades local and state players have been talking about what to do with the entire area - then in 2013 they landed on the idea of making it part of an "N-squared" innovation corridor. As part of that district renovation, plans launched to revitalize the 2-mile strip along Needham Street into Newton complete with bike lanes and new sidewalk and improvements on the Charles River bridge, making it safer for pedestrians and bikers as well as cars.

Enter the latest delay: ( Take a moment and sign up for a Newton Patch Newsletter it makes everything better)

The regional planning organization responsible for approving funds for the joint Newton/Needham project slated to improve intersections and add bike lanes for a 2 mile stretch from Route 9 to Webster Street has postponed funding of the project by one year.

"A few months ago the state announced this work that was supposed to be funded in 2018 needed to be delayed because they hadn't done all the land takings they needed," said Newton Needham Chamber of Commerce President Greb Reibman.

Because some of the work would mean widening sidewalks this meant negotiating with a lot of separate property owners on taking small pieces of their land, he said.

But the announcement was concerning. So, the mayor, the chamber of commerce, and other major stakeholders encouraged their constituents to write to the Regional Metropolitan Planning Organization, which allocates uses of federal and state highway dollars.

"We wanted to make sure we didn't lose the funding by delaying it for year - and [that] they'd know for sure we needed to move forward as quickly as possible," said Reibman.

“We expressed at the [Metropolitan Planning Organization] meeting the interest of both Newton and Needham in keeping the project in the 2018 [Transportation Improvement Program] along with appreciation to the governor and MassDOT for assuring us that there would only be a four-month delay. The vote placed the project in 2019. We will continue to work with DOT to ensure that the Needham St/Highland Ave. project moves forward as expeditiously as possible," said Dori Zaleznik, chief administrative officer at Newton City Hall in an emailed statement to Patch.

Gov. Charlie Baker recently told attendees at a Newton/Needham Chamber event not to worry.

“This one has our full attention. The money is locked in, everyone is committed to this, and we’re going to get it done, period,” Baker said, the Newton/Needham Chamber reported in its blog earlier this month.

The state is still working on negotiating at least some of the 130 land takings for the widening 2 miles of road from Route 9 to Webster Street in Needham, said Reibman. But it won't delay the project too long.

Under the prior funding plan approved last year, construction was set to being in the spring of 2019. It's now slated to begin summer of 2019, MassDOT said last week. Construction will be done in phases and take approximately 3 ½ years to complete, according to MassDOT.

Still this doesn't impact two projects already slated for updates, said Reibman.

The project to align Oak and Christina Streets at Needham Street and the project to put a traffic light at First Avenue and Highland in Needham near the Might Sub will still begin next month and be completed by the fall, he said.

"All this does is it delays [the 2-mile stretch]. This project - and talk to fix this road - goes back many decades. The objective is to not just make it better for cars and pedestrians, but it's much needed and critical to our ability develop," said Reibman.

Photo: View of Needham Street from the Charles River bridge crossing into Newton From Needham. By Jenna Fisher/ Newton Patch