The North Bluff renovation project, which will include a new roundabout by the Island Queen and Patriot ferries in Oak Bluffs, is underway.
Town officials say construction is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
In the meantime, roadways will be blocked to all traffic on Circuit Avenue Extension and Seaview Avenue Extension past Saco Avenue, and the area’s parking spaces will not be available while construction is underway. During this time, the Patriot Boat will be docking just south of the Hy-Line Ferry.
“The area affected may expand or shrink as needed to accommodate the construction, and through traffic may be allowed from time to time, at the discretion of the project manager,” the Oak Bluffs Police Department said this week.
The North Bluff project is the latest phase of the town’s streetscape master plan, aimed toward improving accessibility throughout the Oak Bluffs downtown area.
The project calls for a landscaped rotary at the intersection of Circuit Avenue Extension and Seaview Avenue Extension in order to improve traffic flow, and reconfiguration of the area’s parking format to better accommodate pedestrians and ferry passengers.
Designed by Waterfield Design Group — the same company responsible for designing the Circuit Avenue, Healy Square, and Kennebec Avenue portions of the streetscape plan — the North Bluff project received the green light from the Martha’s Vineyard Commission last December.
Shortly after issuing a request for proposals (RFP) in early March, the town’s select board awarded Lawrence Lynch Corp. the construction contract.
I have to say I’m not a big fan of the new design of post office square in Oak Bluffs, though I understand that some trees may get added back in. I surely hope so! We need a cool, shady place to sit downtown. I know that I am too late coming on board with this complaint. While I’m at it, I don’t know who engineered the end of County Road which used to be a somewhat confusing “Y” which most of us learned to negotiate. And the intersection up onto Temahigan Avenue is a nightmare. I trust that Waterfield won’t jump to take responsibility for that. As an aging driver, I need things to be less confusing, not more, and I think many of us feeling the same way.
I agree, trees are needed in the square. IMO, the rotary is a waste of money, they will lose parking spots. Main Street parallel parking, did they ever make up the spaces lost there?
Everything you mentioned was subject to public hearings and was discussed for many years.
The Island was perfect when I arrived, it must not change.
The rotary is complete insanity. Whomever designed this deserves to have to live there forever and observer daily life when it is completed. Less parking, more confusion, ugly views, restricted movement of humans.
Who keeps giving this construction bid to the same company when they have proven multiple times that they do not work well with the ambience of MV? Do I smell payoff? The work around the hospital is a nightmare and I keep waiting for the lawsuits to build up when a bus and a truck, or a car and a truck have to get around the concrete point that sticks out so far. Disgraceful.
Why didn’t you provide input at the various public meetings over the years? If all the engineers and elected / appointed officials in various departments had your expertise then they could have designed a much better project.