Construction Begins on Main Street Improvements [Video]

A state Department of Transportation project to improve a large segment of Route 16, or Main Street, began late last month with initial drainage and utility work downtown.

The nearly $3 million contract was awarded to P.A. Landers of Hanover, the same contractor that completed the recent for the Milford Upper Charles Trail.

— covered through a combination of state and federal transportation funds — will affect Main Street from Cedar Street to Water Street. It will include new intersection lights, improved timing, better drainage and revised curbs and sidewalks at downtown intersections to improve pedestrian crossings.

The project will run from the intersection of Main at Water streets, through the downtown area, and continuing along East Main Street to a point beyond the

The project will then pick up again at the intersection of Cedar and East Main streets. The intersection of East Main Street and Medway Road also will be improved.

In addition to the road repaving, the project will improve handicap accessibility for the existing sidewalks, replace the lighting structures and boxes for the intersections, and move the poles further away from the road.

Traffic is not expected to be detoured or re-routed during the project, said Mike Santora, Milford's town engineer. But traffic will be delayed at time. Road work will not be conducted at the "rush hours" between 6 and 9 a.m. or between 3 and 6 p.m., he said.