Worcester Eyes Chandler Street For City's Next Big Dig

WORCESTER, MA — With a new Kelley Square and Main Street through the downtown business district all but complete, Worcester is starting to plan for the city's next big road project: an overhaul of Chandler Street.

Perhaps as soon as next week, Worcester will begin advertising public meetings for residents to learn about the project, which would span Main Street to Park Avenue, and may cost more than $10 million.

Chandler Street, which is also state Route 122A, features four lanes of traffic, plus parking on either side. The wide road does not have bike lanes, and has been the site of many serious collisions involving pedestrians. In January 2020, a 29-year-old woman was seriously injured by a hit and run driver while crossing the road.

"While the pedestrian and bicycle accidents in Worcester the past several years have raised concerns city-wide, neighborhood residents have long known to approach Chandler Street with caution," District 4 Councilor Sarai Rivera said in a news release over the weekend. "The redesign of Chandler Street is a 'quality of life' that is regularly brought up at community meetings and as part of on-line discussions."

According to MassDOT, the Chandler Street project would be completed in two phases.

The first phase would span about a 1/2 mile between Main and Queen streets, which has been identified as the most accident-prone stretch of Chandler. Work would include resurfacing the road, bike and pedestrian improvements, new curbs and sidewalks and adding an adaptive signal control system.

The second phase would span 3.7 miles from Queen Street to Park Avenue, and make similar upgrades along the roadway.

The upgraded Chandler Street will complement the ongoing Main Street overhaul. That $11 million project began in 2018 and spans School Street to Chandler Street. Crews are still finishing up work, with major paving and painting operations set to span June 28 through August.