South Coast Rail warning upcoming work will disrupt Fall River, Freetown, Lakeville, New Bedford, Raynham, and Taunton residents

MassDOT’s contractor will be performing South Coast Rail construction work in the coming days.

The work is as follows:

Culvert Replacements

Location of work: Work will be performed throughout the South Coast Rail Phase 1 Corridor on the New Bedford Main Line, Fall River Secondary, and Middleborough Secondary in the communities of Berkley, Fall River, Freetown, Lakeville, New Bedford, Raynham, and Taunton.

Date/time of work:

Monday, August 26, through Thursday, August 29, from 7:00 AM each day to 2:00 AM the following morning and Friday, August 30, from 7:00 AM to 3:00 PM

Work zone access: Primary construction access will be via rail from the contractor’s laydown area near the Chace Road grade crossing in Freetown where employee parking will primarily be located. Equipment should also be expected to utilize roadways and grade crossings along the corridor at any time throughout the construction period. All work will be performed on the railroad corridor.

This work will be disruptive to local residents. Crews will be using various pieces of heavy equipment and trucks along the railroad right-of-way throughout the construction period. While the project will seek to minimize construction-related impacts to communities, noise will be generated and work lights will be used along the right-of-way.

Tarkiln Hill Road Grade Crossing Improvements

Location of work: Tarkiln Hill Road grade crossing in New Bedford
Date/time of work: Weekdays between 7:00 AM and 5:00 PM
Vehicular and pedestrian access will be maintained through all roadway work zones and access to local businesses will not be impacted.

No work will be performed from Saturday, August 31, through Monday, September 2,
for the Labor Day holiday.

Work on the Culvert Replacement Project and in the vicinity of the Tarkiln Hill Road Grade Crossing is anticipated to be completed by January 2020.

If you would like to report a noise issue, call the hotline at (508) 397-4858. The noise hotline will be answered Monday-Friday, between the hours of 7:00 AM and 3:30 PM (except holidays). All voicemails left outside of these hours will be received the following weekday. We respond to all noise complaints.

The schedule for this infrastructure project is weather dependent and subject to change without notice.