The section of Main Street and offshots that have been under construction are scheduled to be paved this Wednesday.
The Town announced details and a map this morning:
Paving will take place on Wednesday, Nov. 23rd, weather dependent
- We will close Main Street at the intersection of School Street and Latisquama Road and detour the Route 30 East traffic.
- Route 30 West will be closed at White Bagley Road and detoured.
- Newton Street will be closed at Howes Court and detoured around Lyman/Winchester.
- The paving will begin at the section of Main Street from Park Street to the railroad tracks and will be done complete full width as to minimize the inconvenience to the businesses.
- Once that section is complete we will cross the tracks and do the westbound lane of Main Street from the railroad tracks to just beyond the Boston Road intersection, including all of Newton Street.
- The eastbound lane of Main Street will be done from the railroad tracks to just beyond the Boston Road intersection, including Boston Road.
- Once the new mix is cooled, traffic will be allowed to cross from Newton Street and Boston Road over the new mat and we will complete the East Main Street section from Boston Road to Winchester Street.
Wonderful news. Our tiny, little “downtown” is going to look much better, at last. It’s time for a big “Thank You” to the person who is principally responsible for making this happen, and that is Karen Galligan, our DPW Director, who recently announced she is leaving town.
And there is some other good news about downtown. We have a new owner of Mauro’s Market, and he is Indian (meaning not USA Indian, but Far East Indian). I like Indians, partly because I am Indian too — having been lucky enough to be born in Darjeeling, in the High Himalaya, within sight of Mt Everest (which looks like a big HUMP), and also Kachenjunga (which has a much more impressive peak and is the 3rd highest mountain in the World). But back to citizenship … India has exactly the same rules as we do in the USA — if you are born in India, then you are an Indian citizen.
The Mauro’s Market owner’s first name is Krunal. I had to ask him to repeat it, and spell it for me, please, and he says: “K is for Kilo, R is for Romeo, U is for Uniform, N is for November, A is for Alpha, and L is for Lima.” He transports me back to the good old days of the British Raj. And it’s clear he knows the phonetic alphabet of the Allied armies in World War II. (It was very important back then, that soldiers from many different nations, speaking many different languages, were able to understand the same shouted orders.) I’m guessing he knows this because he watched the same movies as me … where Alec Guiness, James Mason, Charleton Heston, and the like, screamed orders at lines of soldiers “Get into bloody line, you SOB’s.”
But back to Krunal … he is delight. So friendly. And, believe it or not, he has decided, “Right Out of the Gate”, that he is going to do all of us a good turn — he is going to keep his Market open in the evenings, not until 6 pm, but until 9 and even 10 pm … if it is successful. This is a smart move, because now our little downtown will be more lively and welcoming … lit by the lights of the Southborough House of Pizza on one side, and by the new Mauro’s Market on the other. So please buy stuff from Krunal, and help make him a success.
There’s a lot of new pavement, and it’s better, but I don’t see the paving as finished. There are many driveways which haven’t had their removed pavement replaced, leaving stumble hazard lips of up to 2 inches.
I really hope there’s more left than striping.
I checked in with Karen Galligan, who responded: