The decade long wait for work to commence for improvements to Rte 139 is nearing another significant milestone!  During formal comments to the South Shore Chamber of Commerce at a luncheon yesterday, Governor Patrick announced that his administration is committed to making the Rte 139 expansion proceed as expeditiously as possible, with the pending release of the necessary funds to complete design/engineering.   Check out a portion of the speech at the following link from the Patriot Ledger, where the Governor details economic development priorities for the entire South Shore (and note his comments to me at about the three minute mark!) 

http://www.patriotledger.com/business/x1682929038/VIDEO-Patrick-optimistic-SouthField-will-move-forward 

As you will hear during this speech the Governor publically stated that he would like to see us do a ground breaking in the spring for the project, which is most exciting, as we will need constant support to tackle the many necessary steps for this project to be seen to completion, which include …

(1)    Release of final funds for the design and engineering   (formal  announcement of grant pending)     

(2)   Completion of same by Town’s agent         

(3)  Review and approval of the plans by Mass Highway       

(4)  Listing of the project on the final TIP list (Transportation Improvement Project List)  Next meeting in May/June 2010, I’ll be speaking at the hearing to fight for our funds, which are estimated to be seven million dollars to complete all work)

(5)    Mass Highway must complete all takings along the one mile parcel (I am told this can take an entire construction season and will see how I can move this along)        

(6) Start the process of moving all utilities along the route (This could also take many months and needs to be coordinated.)       

(7) Start Construction of the “new” Rte 139 The overall goal is to get this project moved up from an earlier projected completion date of 2015 and to shave a few years off the dates.  Considering all the steps involved — and the current cuts in all budgets — if we could finish in 2011 or 2012 we would all be miracle workers! 

More news here:  http://www.wickedlocal.com/marshfield/news/x1945264652/Patrick-pledges-design-funding-for-Route-139