Otis Street Construction Slowing Traffic, Businesses Still Open

Northborough residents have another construction site to interrupt their daily traffic routine, and it is here to stay. As part of the expansion project, a new sewer main is being installed along Otis Street, from the intersection with Tomblin Hill Road to the Walmart parking lot off Route. 9, according to the town’s website.

This project has four phases. Currently, production is still in the first phase, when residents can expect one way traffic toward the train station from Tomblin Hill Road to Lawrence Street. Most of the construction in this phase takes place near Coffee Roasters and , the two businesses most directly affected by the project.

John Parks, owner of Armeno's, said Metro Equipment Corporation, the construction company working on the project, was very open about it. The town was less responsive at first, he said, adding that “they’re warming up to us.”

Parks is concerned about the length of the project, saying that Metro is not really sure what it will find; he thinks the project will be bigger than the company expects.

Another concern for the coffee proprietor is what the company will find once it digs below the surface. Parks wants to be sure that his "whole building doesn’t fall into the pond."

“We don’t know what’s going to happen [over the course of the project]," said Dan Nason, Northborough director of public works. The main concern of his department is that “communication is upheld," adding that he hopes to address problems before they become serious.

The town website sets a completion date at some point through the middle of September, and Nason confirmed that he hopes to finish construction before school starts, and definitely before the snow flies.

As of Friday, July 20, Otis Street was made a one way toward Route 9 from Tomblin Hill Road to Lawrence Street and traffic was slowed both ways through the area. Cars travelling north on Otis Street were directed on a detour toward Route 20, though patrons of the two businesses were allowed to travel through the construction site to Berberian’s Farms and Armeno Coffee Roasters.

Cars travelling south toward Route 9 were often directed to wait just before the intersection at Lawrence Street, as construction crews moved around the current digging site and cars travelling in the opposite direction made its way to the local businesses.

At times, up to eight cars waited to travel toward Route 9, despite that being the designated direction for the flow of traffic in the area. Throughout the construction project, as many as two police officers will be working with drivers and construction workers to keep traffic flowing safely.

Residents should contact Ann Sullivan of Metro with questions and concerns, Nason said.