Berkshire Mall Road Getting $10M in Stimulus Funding

Staff reportsiBerkshires
06:03PM / Monday, October 26, 2009Print Story | Email Story

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — The long-delayed Berkshire Mall road is among 33 priority projects targeted for a second round of stimulus funding totaling more than $165.6 million.

The list released by the Patrick administration on Monday includes $10,128,284 for the two-mile roadway. It is a public road operated by the Baker Hill Road District with the Berkshire Mall its only taxpayer.

The main connector between Routes 7 and 8 has been waiting for state funding for more than decade but heavy traffic has severely deteriorated the road over its 20-year existence. The surface has gotten so bad, some ambulance services have refused to use it.

Built primarily as an access road to the mall, reconstruction plans signify its importance as a connector between North and Central Berkshire's main north/south highways.

The project includes widening sections of the winding road and eliminating the need to enter into the traffic ring around the mall. Instead, the road will run straight to Route 8 with right- and lefthand turns into the mall drive. It will include full reconstruction, resurfacing, guardrails, granite curbs, traffic signals, retaining walls signage and drainage improvements, along with work on the bridge.

Construction is expected to begin in 2010, if an agreement can be hammered out with two other stakeholders bordering the byway, Pittsfield and Petricca.

Also in the funding is $2.8 million for resurfacing First Street, Barker Road, Holmes Road and Valentime Road in Pittsfield.

"These projects put stimulus money and Massachusetts people to work," said Gov. Deval Patrick. "This administration is all about investing in our future, and these funds help."

The complete list can be found here.

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Your Comments

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Hurrah!
from: amy	on: 10-26-2009 12:00AM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

Talk about a bridge to nowhere! Too bad we couldn't stimulate education or food banks...
from: Somewhere	on: 10-26-2009 12:00AM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

Jeez I think it is sad that 10 million is going to roads, but 2 middle schools have closed, teachers getting laid off. Let's see what is more important, going to the mall or a child's education. If people still have values on education our students would be first. The state talks about low test scores and ways to raise them. Try taking the 10 million an invest in our future-educating children. Editor: The state's received millions in education stimulus funds. These funds are directly related to highway and bridge construction. The two middle schools would cost far more than $10M to fix.
from: anywhere	on: 10-26-2009 12:00AM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

Baker Hill Road District...you just got bailed out!
from: Mall freak	on: 10-27-2009 12:00AM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

Really, as a nation, this is all we can think of to do with $800 billion in stimulus money? Pave a bunch of roads? The asphalt producers of the world must be laughing all the way to the bank. Editor: Roads, yeah. Bunch of other stuff, too.
from: This is it?	on: 10-27-2009 12:00AM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

What a big crop of sour grapes are growing here in the Berkshires. Reconstructing roads will bring jobs (help keep bread on the table of workers) as well as making travel safer. Why not just be grateful something beneficial is being done with the stimulus money?
from: amy	on: 10-27-2009 12:00AM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

Amy - It's not an issue of sour grapes. Paving roads seems like a very short-lived benefit, however. We pave a few roads, a few people (look at the chart that is linked below) have jobs for a while. Is any of this money being spent on things that will have long-term impact? If so, the people who are communicating that news are doing a poor job, because all I ever hear about is road paving. If you look at that map (again, linked below), the total number of jobs created/saved is in the tens of thousands. That's great. But MILLIONS are unemployed -- that's thousands of thousands. I'm sure that without the stimulus we would be in worse shape. I just question the effectiveness of it.
from: This is it?	on: 10-27-2009 12:00AM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

I find your last comment contradictory. How can you question the effectiveness of the stimulus package, and still believe we would be worse off without it? I, too, would like to see all the unemployed back at work,but by putting paychecks in the hands of only thousands, we strengthen the cycle of production to respond to need and demand. A better trickle down theory, than waiting for the rich to have compassion on those less fortunate than them.
from: amy	on: 10-27-2009 12:00AM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

Sorry to drag this out... I should have been more clear and said we would be incrementally worse off. Here's the math, again using the figures from the map that the iBerkshires editor linked a couple of comments ago. If we generously assume that the stimulus money has created 100,000 jobs, well, that's great for those 100,000. That still leaves 15,000,000 people unemployed. That means there are still 150 people looking for work, for every job created. When I say I question the effectiveness, I am wondering if there was some better way to spend the money.
from: Is this it?	on: 10-27-2009 12:00AM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

Listen Editor - Keep your hands off the keys relative to the comments submitted. It is not likely that an opinion is needed in anything with which you do not agree. Let the comments stand alone. Editor: First, I'm providing facts not opinion. Second, my Web site, my rules.
from: northy_adams	on: 10-28-2009 12:00AM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

I love your website and I think you do a very fine job reporting.
from: Sandy Totter	on: 10-30-2009 12:00AM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

Lanesborough Chooses New Town Administrator

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
09:19PM / Tuesday, October 06, 2026

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — The Select Board has named longtime Easthampton official John Mason as the new town administrator after interviewing him and one other candidate on Tuesday.

About 45 applications were received. Eleven were brought before the seven-member selection committee. From that pool, the committee brought forward two candidates to the Select Board: Mason, Easthampton's director of Parks And Recreation, and Allison Schmitt, executive director for Entrepreneurship for All (EforAll).

During the Select Board meeting on Tuesday, the board voted, 4-1, to offer the post to Mason, following a meeting that lasted more than two hours.

Prior to the interviews, the board bid farewell to outgoing Town Administrator Gina Dario, who is taking a position as Adams' new Community Development Director. Her last day is Friday, but she will be a resource to Lanesborough to ensure a smooth transition.

Mason brings about 20 years of experience in municipal government, including the last 17 years as director of Parks And Recreation in Easthampton, where his responsibilities included grant writing, managing state and federal grants, overseeing budgets, and managing projects.

Prior to that, he served as executive director of a Boys & Girls Club near Boston, where he developed his grant-writing experience. He credits that role with helping him grow.

"We were trying to run an operation on good feelings and no money. It's tough to operate that way. So it was very challenging, and I had to learn how to grant write and to do it well," he said.

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