Community connections were key to the successful highway and bridge safety improvements project linking the Town of Agawam and City of West Springfield, MA.
After a 2008 Benesch study confirmed the condition of the Morgan-Sullivan Bridge necessitated replacement of the bridge and identified insufficiencies at three key intersections along Memorial Avenue (Route 147), MassDOT recognized a “complete streets” approach to these improvements would benefit the adjacent communities. Benesch worked closely with numerous stakeholders to incorporate the complete streets features while carefully balancing the impacts to the project costs and schedule.
Along with designing the new bridge structure over the Westfield River, Benesch designed one mile of roadway widening, new signals and intersection improvements to accommodate increased vehicle capacity. Benesch worked closely with both towns and MassDOT to implement the complete streets features for pedestrian and bicycle accommodations. Features such as a two-way bicycle facility with bicycle signals, bicycle crossings and two-stage bicycle turn boxes were designed while maintaining horizontal separation from the pedestrian facilities.
ACEC/MA recognized the merits of this project by awarding it the Silver Award for Engineering Excellence.