ORLEANS – With the project at the intersection of Route 6A and Route 28 in Orleans wrapping up, the town now looks towards its next objective of redesigning an 800-foot stretch of Main Street.
Town officials say that the final design will be ready by March with bidding to start in April. If supplemental funding is approved at Town Meeting in May, work will begin in September with an estimated completion date of May 2020.
The project will focus on a stretch running from Main Street Wine down to Gourmet and Friends Market.
It calls to reduce the two entrances to Post Office Square down to a single entrance across from Friends Marketplace. Crosswalks will also be improved, featuring brick curbs that extend into the current parking lane.
DPE Director Tom Daley says the project is going to focus on more than just the pavement and sidewalks.
“This is not just a paving project and it’s not just new sidewalks. It’s streetscape. It’s adding trees and there’s a proposed seat wall with plantings and etc. It’s way-finding signage and bicycle accommodations,” Daley said.
The town has been granted $1.5 million from Mass Works and will have to fund the remaining $600,000 of the $2.1 million project.
At the upcoming Town Meeting, Selectman Alan McClennen says the town will ask voters to rescind around $400,000 in bonds.
“This is the culmination of ten plus years of village center planning. It’s consistent with the village center vision statement,” said Orleans Town Planner George Meservey.
“The plan for the downtown, and the village center specifically, is a result of a market study done in 2011, a village center streetscape plan which was completed in 2012, and this is in conjunction with the zoning changes that have been adopted by the Town Meeting over the last three years.”
By TIM DUNN, CapeCod.com News Center