SPRINGFIELD — Twelve years and $200 million after its start, the State Street corridor improvement project is approaching the finish line.
By Thursday morning, the 3.2 mile redevelopment initiative was about 2,500 feet away from completion, city and federal officials said.
At a news conference outside the Springfield Library and Museums, U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal and Mayor Domenic J. Sarno said street improvements underway in the Armory-Quadrangle neighborhood represent the last stage of a project that already includes the new federal court house on State Street and the soon-to-be-completed state data center on Elliot Street.
By year’s end, Elliot, Edwards and Spring Streets will have new brick sidewalks, old-fashioned street lights, improved landscaping and driveway and handicapped-access ramps, Neal said.
The $1.6 million project will tie together other elements of the redevelopment project and transform the Armory-Quadrangle neighborhood, home to the Springfield Library and Museums, Neal added. “The Quadrangle is everyone’s neighborhood,” Neal said.
The improvements are expected to be completed by the fall, marking the end of a 12-year initiative whose hallmark was cooperation between the public and private sector, Sarno said.
At each phase, the project has reflected the city’s need for historic preservation and economic development, Sarno said. In particular, developers have preserved the facade of Technical High School as part of the new data center on Elliot Street.
The project “respects our history while helping us move forward into the future,” he said.
JBL Construction of Ludlow is the contractor for the project.
Also speaking at the event were Kevin E. Kennedy, the city’s top economic development officer, and Springfield Museums President Holly Smith-Bove.
Highlights of the project include the $70 million federal courthouse at 300 State St., which opened in 2008. The $110 million state data center, which preserves the facade of Technical High School, will open this summer.
An additional $20 million in improvements have been made to State Street from St. Michael’s Cemetery to the banks of the Connecticut River.
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