Senator Eldridge and Representative Sena Highlight $575,000 MassWorks Infrastructure Grant That Has Improved Pedestrian Travel Along Route 111 in Boxborough
Funds were used to extend sidewalk from the Sargent Memorial Library to Liberty Square Road.
Boxborough, MA – Senator Eldridge and Representative Sena walked the sidewalk along Massachusetts Avenue (Route 111) in Boxborough to highlight the successful completion this fall of the $1.7 million upgrade to parts of the highway, including the stretch of road leading to the Sargent Memorial Library and the Blanchard Memorial Elementary School. Eldridge and Sena have worked closely in collaboration with the town of Boxborough to fund and upgrade the highway passing through town, and to ensure that Boxborough’s residents have improved access to walking through the town’s many neighborhoods with a new sidewalk constructed along a major part of Mass. Ave. On top of the $575,000 MassWorks grant that the town of Boxborough received, Representative Sena and Senator Eldridge successfully lobbied for additional state funding to complete the project, including fixing many culverts below the state highway.
The effort to improve pedestrian access to key locations in Boxborough dates back to the early 2000s, when the town began work on the development of a dedicated pedestrian path along Route 111. By 2005, the town had completed the sidewalk from the Boxborough Town Hall and Community Center to the Sargent Memorial Library, the first phase of a larger project intended to extend further down the roadway towards the Boxborough/Acton town line.
The MassWorks Infrastructure Grant, awarded in 2017 with support from Senator Eldridge and then-Representative Benson, would enable the town to extend the existing sidewalk from the Sargent Memorial Library to Liberty Square Road. Four years later, and following recent assistance from Senator Eldridge and Representative Sena to release the funding and get work underway, the project is complete, and pedestrians can now travel along Route 111 all the way from the Boxborough Town Hall to Liberty Square Road. The MassWorks Infrastructure Grant supported all necessary expenses of the project, including tree removal, excavation, drainage work, grading and curbing, and the final milling, paving, and striping.
“The Town of Boxborough is excited for the completion of the sidewalk project, which wouldn't have happened without the help and support of both Senator Jamie Eldridge and Representative Dan Sena,” said Boxborough Select Board Chair Wes Fowlks. “It was a long process, but the result was worth the wait. This sidewalk is providing residents and visitors a safe walking path that they would not have otherwise had. The sidewalk is already seeing a lot of use, and will benefit the town for years to come. It is a wonderful example of how Local and State can come together for the betterment of the community.”
“I am very happy to see the new sidewalk along Mass Ave in Boxborough, which my constituents have asked for many years,” said State Senator Jamie Eldridge. “I commend Rep. Sena for really pushing MassDOT and MassHighway to be more flexible in the re-design of the state highway, and for successfully pushing for additional state funding, to fix culverts under Route 111. I’d like to give a special thank you to former Town Manager Ryan Ferreira, for his and his team’s persistence to get the project done.”
“Sidewalk infrastructure is critical to ensuring our towns are walkable, and that locations within them are accessible to all,” said State Representative Dan Sena. “I am grateful for our close partnership with the town, because when we work together across levels of government, we are able to meet the needs of Boxborough’s residents with initiatives like the Boxborough Sidewalk Project.”
The MassWorks Infrastructure Program is a competitive grant program that provides the largest and most flexible source of capital funds to municipalities and other eligible public entities primarily for public infrastructure projects that support and accelerate housing production, spur private development, and create jobs throughout the Commonwealth. MassWorks is authorized under Mass. General Laws, Chapter 23A, Section 63 and is administered by the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development.
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