The work on the second roundabout is slated to take six weeks.
This is the site of the second roundabout at Bay Road and Route 116 in Amherst that will be constructed this summer. AMHERST – Motorists will be able to test out the first new roundabout across from Atkins Market just after Memorial Day when a detour is put in place to allow for contractors to put in the second roundabout on Route 116 near Bay Road.
Contractors wanted to wait until after college students left before beginning the work on the second roundabout so there would be less traffic, Public Works Superintendent Guilford B. Mooring said.
The second roundabout will be put in north of Bay Road heading from Atkins to Hampshire College.
Bay Road has to be built up to enable to the roundabout to be built and detours through Hadley and Amherst will be put in place.
Sara Lavoieâ¨, press secretary for the state Department of Transportation, said work is expected to last about six weeks depending on the weather. “The roundabouts will be operational by fall,” she said in an email.
The details of the detours as well as traffic mitigation are still being worked out, she said. But to avoid the work area, motorists will have to use South East Street, Pomeroy and West Pomeroy lanes on the Amherst side and Moody Bridge Road and South Maple Street on the Hadley side. Atkins will remain open, officials said.
Work on the project, which took more than a decade of planning, began in March of 2011. Lavoie said the project completion date is July 12, 2013 and is on schedule to finish by then.
The redesign is intended to improve safety and traffic flow with the roundabouts at Route 116 and West Bay Road, and at Route 116 and Bay Road. The road will be slightly wider. The design also includes a multi-use bicycle lane.
Ludlow-based Baltazar Contractors were awarded the contract for the $6 million project in January of 2011.