Great Barrington — With dozens of complaints pouring into Town Hall, Facebook pages, and local auto shops about tires punctured by the town’s new granite curbing on Main Street, the manufacturer of the curbs, Williams Stone of Otis, noted that the town could have specified beveled edges for the curbing but failed to do so.
The curbs were installed by MassDOT as part of the $5.8 million Main Street Reconstruction project undertaken last year to upgrade the surface, sidewalks and traffic lights of Main Street (U.S. Route 7) in downtown Great Barrington, from Cottage Street to St. James Place through the town’s commercial center.
While granite curbs are a standard option offered by MassDOT for all of its District 1 projects, the curbs’ specifications were ultimately chosen by the town. MassDOT spokesperson Judith Riley told the Edge that, while MassDOT oversaw the construction project, “it was a town design project” and built according to those plans.
“The town hired Fuss and O’Neill… a qualified design consultant,” Riley explained. “The type of curbing was the town’s decision. They chose a MassDOT-standard granite curb… All designs applied on this project are per the town’s hired designer.”
But Edward Mahoney, president of Williams Stone, Inc., in Otis, the supplier of granite curbing for this project as well as being a major supplier throughout the U.S., said that, when the granite for Great Barrington was ordered, an eased edge (or chamfered edge) was not specified as it often is in parking situations. Mahoney explained that the decision to leave the edge un-eased is “usually budget-driven.”
Mahoney added, however, that the edges could be eased after their installation. Though he could not come up with an estimate right away, he said it would not be “too expensive.”
In an interview earlier this month, Town Manager Jennifer Tabakin said that an estimate had been drawn up in May and that beveling the curbs would be extremely expensive, although she did not have an estimate on hand.
And MassDOT’s Riley said the curb chosen by the town is “standard detail.”
“This curb has been used as the granite curb of choice on all projects constructed by MassDOT in District 1 for at least the last 20 years and presumably across the state,” Riley said.
Earlier this month Tabakin said the town’s plan was to wait and see if incidents of damage from the sharp-edged curbs would decrease as wear and tear on the curbs dulled the edges. She suggested that, if certain spots were more problematic than others, those could potentially be dealt with.
