Allen Street Bridge re-opens in time for start of school
By Ken Powers Contributing Writer

Northborough - At 7:05 a.m. Aug. 27, the rush-hour commute in the center of town got a little less hectic.

That's when the Massachusetts Highway Department officially finished its repairs to the bridge on Allen Street and opened the road to through traffic for the first time in about a year.

"Fantastic, isn't it?" Department of Public Works Director Kara Buzanoski asked visitors to her office. "And just in time for the start of school. I know for a fact the school bus drivers, the parents dropping off and picking up their children at all the diff erent schools, and the kids from the Church Street part of town who drive themselves and their friends to Algonquin Regional will be very happy about this."

While, for anyone forced to use Route 20 at rush hour as the alternative route, it seemed like the project took forever, it not only took just a year, but it finished more than four months ahead of schedule.

"To their credit, MassHighway said they would finish way ahead of schedule and they did," Buzanoski said. "All the work on the bridge was done last week and they paved it on Tuesday and they painted it on Thursday."

The bridge was rebuilt by the state because of structural deficiencies, which included cracks in the concrete understructure of the bridge and corrosion, discovered during a routine state inspection five years ago. The reconstruction also includes replacement of the bridge's concrete beams.

The state built the bridge in 1985 and, as a result, paid for its replacement. The final cost of the project was between $750,000 and $900,000. site plan earlier this year.

The new CVS will increase in size from 8,800 square feet to 13,041 square feet and be the sole occupant of the building. The current building, at times, also housed a florist and a dry-cleaning business and a café.

Joubert said the consignment store at 19 Blake St. will move into the back of the building where, until recently, an antique shop was housed, freeing up the front of the building for the pharmacy portion of the CVS.

The move doesn't seem to be in the immediate future. Louis Leo, administrative assistant for Northborough Building Inspector Bill Farnsworth, confirmed recently that no permits of any kind had been requested for the 19 Blake St. property.

"It usually takes about 30 days to get a building permit once the process gets started, barring any unforeseen complications," Leo said. "But we've received nothing on this project."

Joubert said it was her understanding that CVS wanted to move quickly on the relocation so the tearing down and rebuilding portion of the project could get underway, but added that her building has not been notified of anything other than the fact that a relocation site had been selected.