Egremont — After two years of work, the town held a celebration of the completion of a road reconstruction project at the Village Green on Monday, September 23. The project started in October 2022 after the state’s Department of Transportation gave the town a $7.77 million grant for the project.
The project included reconstructing 0.7 miles of state highway, from Creamery Road to North Undermountain Road, to create a “complete streets” design. Sections of the road were redesigned for a 32-foot width to allow for bicycle accommodation, with sidewalks added to both sides to accommodate for more pedestrian traffic. Crosswalks, along with crossing signals and other traffic-calming measures, were also added to parts of the road.
Select Board Chair Lucinda Fenn-Vermeule said that the improvements were needed in order to ensure safety for residents and drivers and to create a more walkable part of town. “We’ve had many issues over the years because we’re a gateway town, and it seems like everybody comes in this way from New York,” Fenn-Vermeule told The Berkshire Edge. “We’ve had a lot of problems with people obeying the 25-mile-an-hour speed limit. I used to own the store Vermeulen, just down the road from the Village Green. Drivers would pass the double line of the highway so they could get through town very quickly. The number one thing behind this plan was to ensure more safety on this road.”
Fenn-Vermeule said that the town asked residents if they would fund new water-pipe infrastructure on the road to be carried out as the construction was taking place. “There were some very old water pipes here, and residents approved a $2 million project to replace them,” Fenn-Vermeule said. “It was George McGurn who spearheaded this entire project.”
McGurn, who unexpectedly died in April, was first elected to the Select Board in May 2017. Before he served on the Select Board, McGurn worked in the State Department and served as the former dean of the Boston University School of Management. His family owned property in Egremont since 1977, and at the time of his death, he was serving as the Select Board chair.
“George would be over the moon if he saw that this project had been completed,” Fenn-Vermeule said. “It’s a big deal, even if it is just a small town road.”
“To me, this is a good partnership between the town and the state, and it is a great investment,” said State Rep. William “Smitty” Pignatelli (D – 3rd Berkshire District). “This is a beautiful area, and it’s great to have sidewalks on both sides so people can be walking in this area. People can now safely walk to and from parts of the town.”
“As we all know, for health reasons, the walkability of a town is very important,” added Betsy Andrus, executive director of the Southern Berkshire Chamber of Commerce. “Before this project, the sidewalks were broken up. Now with these improvements, this part of South Egremont feels like a walkable, cohesive kind of town.”
MassDOT District 1 Director Francesca Hemming, who spoke at the commemoration event, said that the state funded the project in order to accommodate the needs of pedestrians, the character of the town’s Historic District, and to accommodate the needs of the local business community. “This [project] design is resilient and sensitive to the natural environment and creates a complete street environment where all users can feel welcome and accommodated,” Hemming said. “This project provides a sense of place for the residents of Egremont. The sidewalks, crosswalks, bylanes, signs, traffic markings, and lighting all communicate that this is a village designed for the people.”
