A HARD ROAD. Residents of Gunrock, Green Hill, and Atlantic Hill are dealing with detours and construction noise as the long-awaited reconstruction of the Atlantic Avenue continues. Here, crews replace old drainage piping near the beach. The town manager said Samoset and Manomet avenues will be addressed beginning in 2023. Regular road paving updates – including recent projects on Park Avenue and Bay Street – are available through a link on the home page of the town’s website, www.town.hull.ma.us. [Tom Foye photos]

By Carol Britton Meyer

Work on the long-awaited and much-anticipated roughly $8 million, 1.3-mile Atlantic Avenue rehabilitation project, involving the complete reconstruction of Atlantic Avenue from Nantasket Avenue to the Cohasset town line, is well under way.

In an update this week, Town Manager Philip Lemnios reported to The Hull Times that through this November, the contractor, P.A. Landers, will be completing work on all the drainage structures. That work began in April.

Hull Municipal Lighting Plant’s contractor has completed the necessary utility pole relocations along Atlantic Avenue and is now installing the overhead wires on the new utility poles.

“The retaining wall at Gunrock Beach was recently substantially completed, including new access stairs to the beach,” Lemnios said. “Next spring, the roadway will be ground down to a gravel base and the installation of a new surface and sidewalks will be substantially completed during the period of April 2023 to November 2023, with final ‘punch list’ items to be finished in the spring of 2024.”

With regard to addressing paving/roadway reconstruction needs in other parts of Hull, Lemnios said the town expects “to look at the design services for Samoset and Manomet in the spring of 2023” to help resolve issues on these low-lying roads. Regular road paving updates – including recent projects on Park Avenue and Bay Street – are available through a link on the home page of the town’s website, www.town.hull.ma.us.

On Atlantic Avenue, most recently, portions of the new underground stormwater drainage system between Gunrock and Montana avenues were installed, as well as between Summit Avenue and the Cohasset town line.

During the next two weeks, work on the underground drainage system will continue between 103 and 123 Atlantic Ave., with crews also working on the drainage in the area of the Summit Avenue intersection.

HMLP will continue to work on transferring power to the new wires. Most residents and businesses on Atlantic Avenue between Nantasket and Gunrock avenues will be contacted by the light plant to coordinate brief power outages that are necessary to complete the transfer.

Through traffic will be detoured between School Street and Jerusalem Road during the daytime for the foreseeable future, with one lane open on Atlantic to accommodate local traffic.

Pedestrians, bicyclists, and emergency vehicles will continue to be able to travel through the construction area, with access to residences, businesses, and town hall maintained during this time. Trenches will be restored with asphalt patching at the end of each week.

Residents and visitors are advised to travel through the construction area with caution and that noise disruptions may occur between the work hours of 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

As background, the Town of Hull, in partnership with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s Highway Division, is working to achieve the overall goals of improving pedestrian, bicycle, and vehicle safety, access, and drainage along Atlantic Avenue.

The project involves reconstructing sidewalks and installing bike lanes, paving, replacing guardrails, making the street compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, enhancing drainage, and improving side-street intersections.

The construction is being paid with state and federal dollars, with the town responsible for costs associated with the design, environmental permitting, and right-of-way acquisition for the project.

For more information, click here (the link also is visible from the town’s home page).