Welcome back to the City of Somerville's construction newsletter!

(Central Street between Summer St. and Highland Ave. awaiting final paving planned for this spring.)

Winter is a (relatively) quiet time for construction in the city, a time to reflect on the last year and plan ahead for the upcoming season.

In particular, we're looking back at a year during which we built more traffic calming features than ever before, and ahead to the final season of work on the Spring Hill Sewer Separation.

As always, if you have any questions about the work below (or any work in the city) please don't hesitate to reach out to us at

construction@somervillema.gov.

What We're Sharing This Month: 

• Spring Hill Sewer Separation - The Final Season
• 90/92 Union Square Roof Repairs 
• Pavement and Sidewalk Work – Spring/Summer Lookahead 
• News from the Mobility Division – 2024 Progress Report
• Superterranean Somerville – Clock Tower Update

Construction on the Spring Hill Sewer Separation began in spring of 2022 and planning/design years before that. Since that point, City contractors have modernized the neighborhood’s underground utilities (including a combined sewer largely developed in the late 19th century) and reconstructed neighborhood streets to prioritize safety and accessibility.  

Now, with substantial completion anticipated for June 2025, we’re preparing for the final season of construction this spring. Below you’ll find an overview of the remaining work.

Winter (February-March) 

Construction of green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) near the intersections of 

• Cambria Street at Central Street 
• Prescott Street at Summer Street 
• Quincy Street at Summer Street 

GSI under construction on Cambria St.

Completed GSI on Avon Street.

What is Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI)? 

GSI uses natural materials, including soil, plants, and stone to reduce the amount of stormwater that enters the sewer system by mimicking the natural environment and infiltration processes. This helps reduce the amount of stormwater that enters the sewer system and prevents pollutants from entering nearby waterways. 

Spring 2025 - Final Streetscape Work and Substantial Completion

This spring crews will return in full capacity to complete final the streetscape elements of the project. 

This includes all remaining final paving throughout the area. A non-exhaustive list of remaining streetscape work is included below.

Lower Summer Street (School St. to Bow St.) 

• Construction of new sidewalks on northern/odd-numbered side of the street 
• Addition of westbound cycle track 
• Introduction of pocket park at the intersection of Quincy Street and green stormwater infrastructure 
• Final paving of the roadway including pavement marking

Central Street (Summer St. to Highland Ave.)

• Replacement of current temporary asphalt on southbound (toward Summer Street) cycle track with final porous pavement 
• Final paving of the roadway including raised crosswalks and pavement markings 

Other project streets 

• Final paving of the roadway on School Street, Oxford Street, Hersey Street, Gibbens Street, and Cambria Street.
• Construction of speed humps on Summer Street and School Street. 
• Remining pavement markings/paint installation project-wide including westbound Summer Street cycle track. 
• Installation of remaining signage project wide.

More information and regular updates are available on the project website at somervillema.gov/springhill.  

The City is making repairs to the roof of its 90-92 Union Square building. This work, led by the City’s Capital Project Division, is expected to continue through the spring.  

The building, a former firehouse that dates to the late 1880s, is in need of significant structural repair and was closed in August 2023 in the interest of public safety. Repairs to the roof are being undertaken as an interim measure to prevent further water damage to the structure from taking place. These repairs will necessitate the removal of the clock tower from the building. The clock faces and mechanisms will be retained for potential future use.   

For more information and periodic updates, visit the project website at somervillema.gov/9092USQroof. 

Winter weather requires us to press pause on rebuilding our roads and sidewalks. Among other challenges, colder temperatures can prevent concrete and asphalt from curing properly--resulting in an inferior final product.  

So, like Quentin the Quahog, we’re looking forward to spring and restarting work to make our streets safer, more comfortable, and accessible. Here’s a look ahead at some of what is planned for the upcoming construction season. 

Intersection Improvements

• Somerville Avenue at Central Street 
• Washington Street At Merriam Street  
• Bow Street/Walnut Street (fall 2025) 

Among other safety interventions, at each of the intersections above we’ll be creating new raised crossing and extending the curbline to shorten the distance for people crossing the street. 

(Annotated plans for intersection improvements at Central Street and Somerville Avenue)

Learn more about the design for each of these intersections here.  

Full Street Reconstruction Projects

Full street projects include rebuilding sidewalks and repaving the entire street from one curb to the other.  

The below streets are slated for reconstruction this upcoming season. Notification will be provided to residents ahead of work starting. 

• Gorham Street (from Holland St. to Howard St.) 
• Meacham Road (from Dover St. to Cambridge City Line) 
• Otis Street (from McGrath Hwy. to Cross St.) 
• Perry Street (from Washington St. to Marion St.) 
• Speed humps and raised crossings to follow repaving.

Also on the horizon...

Planning continues for Somerville's next two "complete streets" projects. These projects consist of the wholesale reconstruction of major travel corridors to improve safety and accessibility for all users of the road.

You can view the project designs on the pages below. As more information about construction timelines becomes available, we'll keep you updated here and through other City channels.

• Tufts Street Reconstruction
• West Broadway Reconstruction

Learn More

Visit our Pavement and Sidewalk Management Program for more on how we work to improve our community’s roadways and sidewalks. 

The page includes an interactive map to help show which streets have been paved recently, which streets are up next, and which streets we’re planning to pave within the next five years. 

(Interactive paving map available at somervillema.gov/paving)

Did you know that we built more than 100 traffic calming features and paved 3 miles of roadway in 2024?

Every winter, our colleagues in the City’s Mobility Division publish an annual progress report--digging into trends for transit ridership, pedestrian, bike, and motor vehicle traffic, collected speed data, Bluebikes ridership, and reported crash data.  

Among the data are metrics on key safety deliverables that we've constructed over the past year such as traffic calming installations and other accessibility improvements.

Interested in more information like this? Sign-up for the Mobility Division’s Monthly Newsletter to get updates on the ongoing work to improve safety and accessibility on our streets.  

These repairs will help protect the structure, functionality, and architectural details of our city’s historical city hall. 

There is a lot of work being done in Somerville as we look to modernize and improve our city’s infrastructure, and we can’t cover it all in one email.

Stay up-to-date with what’s going on in your neighborhood and around the city via the following channels: 

• Sign up for City Alerts - Receive important notifications about work in your area.

• Follow us on BlueSky - Posts about curb-cuts, culverts, and more.

• Visit our new construction page - A comprehensive look at work across the city.

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