William S. Canning Blvd road project soon to go out for bid, then construction begins

The project has seen its difficulties, but progress is being made on the William S. Canning Boulevard road and sidewalk improvements.

According to City Engineer JR Frey, 100% design documents are to be ready for bid by June 28. The project should then be open for bid July 18 or 25. 6-8 weeks after the project is open for bid, work should begin. By that timetable, work could begin before summer ends.

Gordon R. Archibald Inc., who was the engineer for the Plymouth Ave. improvement project, was tapped to handle transportation-related improvements in 2018 and Brown and Caldwell was scheduled to handle drainage improvements.

In October of 2017, Mayor Jasiel Correia II, State Representative Alan Silvia, and Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development Secretary Jay Ash announced that the city had been awarded a $2.5 million MassWorks Infrastructure Program grant to be used on the project. The road project will start from the current main entrance of the SouthCoast Marketplace, north to Tucker Street, near Rhode Island Avenue and will include the reconstruction of William S. Canning Boulevard, and replacement of approximately 70 percent of the sidewalks. Work on the traffic lights has already been completed.

The project was initially expected to start on November 1st, 2017 with a completion date of June 30, 2018. However, studies and issues arose that delayed the project.