Tewksbury Selectmen Approve Easements For Andover St/River Rd

TEWKBURY, MA — The Tewksbury Board of Selectmen approved an order of taking easements at their meeting Tuesday, advancing the River Road and Andover Street intersection improvement project. The project includes signals, turning lanes and pedestrian and bicycle accommodations, explained Town Engineer Kevin Hardiman. The total project is costing over $5 million, with the town footing $320,000 in planning and easement costs.

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation is scheduled to put the project out to bid Feb. 29. A firm may be lined up ready to start construction by mid-summer, Hardiman explained.

Changes include the Walgreens driveway with River Road, so they can be signalled together, adding left turn signals on Andover Street, and creating two lanes going Westbound toward Lowell.

"It's a challenging intersection. A lot of people avoid it," Hardiman said.

The town easements are for sidewalks and utility poles, in addition to a temporary construction easement. In many cases, utility poles were historically built on private property without easements, so when improvements happen the town has to acquire the easements, Hardiman explained. An easement is a right to use a piece of property without owning it.

Christopher Huffaker can be reached at 412-265-8353 or chris.huffaker@patch.com.