Adams Roundabout Project On Track

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff
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Motorists can expect some delays this summer at the busy Friend and Columbia Street intersection as a new roundabout is installed to handle the 17,000 vehicles passing daily through the area.

ADAMS, Mass. — The roundabout at the intersection of Friend Street and Route 8 should be complete by next spring.

Town Administrator Tony Mazzucco said it is anticipated that hardscaping will be complete by winter with work finalized in the spring. He said this time frame is all dependent on how strong and early the winter is, however, at this point, all is moving smoothly.

"Things are moving nicely ... but as with any construction project it's impossible to predict everything," Mazzucco said. "I actually drive right through there every day to and from work."

Director of Community Development Donna Cesan said contractor C&A Construction is working quadrant to quadrant. 

She said C&A was finishing up the construction of the retaining wall and other culvert work in front of the Burke Construction property. Once this work is finished, crews will move toward the 7-Eleven property, Cesan said. 

She added that Verizon set its utility poles earlier this week.

Funding for design of the $1.5 million state Department of Transportation project was first secured in 2004. After a brief scare in 2012, when a $650,000 federal earmark for engineering was diverted to the Berkshire Regional Transit Authority, the project is now moving ahead and construction began this spring.

The roundabout is designed slow traffic down at the dangerous intersection at Friend, Columbia and Renfrew streets. The intersection area includes several business, including the 7-Eleven, a public sports park and residential buildings.

The intersection sees nearly 17,000 cars pass per day and a substantial amount of accidents. Traffic is expected to increase when the Greylock Glen project comes to fruition and roundabout was designed with that in mind.

A second nearly $4 million project to restructure Friend Street and West Road has been in the preliminary design stage for some years.


Tags: infrastructure improvements,   MassDOT,   road work,   roundabout,   traffic,   

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Adams Sees No Races So Far

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff
ADAMS, Mass. — With less than a week left before nomination papers are due, there are currently no contested seats.
 
Only selectman incumbent John Duval has returned papers. Selectman Howard Rosenberg has decided not to seek re-election. 
 
Rosenberg, who was elected in 2021, said he has chosen not to run again to make room for younger candidates.
 
"I feel strongly, we need younger people running for public office,  as the future of our town lies within the younger  generation. The world is so fundamentally different today and rapidly changing to become even more so. I believe we need people who are less interested in trying to bring back the past, then in paving the way for a promising future. The younger generation can know that they can stay here and have a voice without having to leave for opportunities elsewhere," he said.
 
The only person to return papers so far is former member the board Donald Sommer. Sommer served as a selectman from 2007 to 2010 and before that was a member of the School Committee and the Redevelopment Authority. He ran unsuccessfully for selectman in 2019 and again in 2021 but dropped out of before the election.
 
Incumbent Moderator Myra Wilk and Town Clerk Haley Meczywor have returned papers for their respective positions.
 
Assessor Paula Wheeler has returned papers and incumbents James Loughman and Eugene Michalenko have returned papers for library trustees.
 
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