Attleboro area lawmakers tout plans to revitalize long-dormant Mansfield rest area
Congressman Jake Auchincloss and state Sen. Paul Feeney made a New Year’s resolution to start 2024.
“We’re going to get the Mansfield rest area project done this year,” Auchincloss said.
It won’t be until this fall, but the revitalization project for the Interstate 95 rest area, which has had nothing more than parking spaces and portable toilets for over a dozen years, should be completed within months.
The two Democrats, along with state Transportation Secretary Monica Tibbits-Nutt and other state and local officials, were at the rest area on Monday morning to unveil the full plans for the project.
“This is an important part of the state,” Feeney said. “This should be the ‘Welcome to Massachusetts’ point for people who are coming up from Rhode Island.”
The Foxboro Democrat said the world will be looking at this area next summer when seven World Cup soccer matches are held at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro.
Auchincloss, a Newton Democrat, said they were able to get the project rolling by working with Tibbits-Nutt to secure the approximately $2.5 million needed to get the work done.
“Legislators have been calling to get this done for a long time,” Tibbits-Nutt said.
A visitors’ center, closed since 2012, has been demolished and a site cleared for a new four-stall modular restroom that will be fully handicapped accessible, Nicole Berthiaume, project manager for the job, said.
Lighting is now on a single tower in the center of the site. New lighting will be installed along the sidewalks leading to the restrooms, as well as the parking area and the ring road that is used by truckers, she said.
An emergency call box connected to state police will be installed in the front parking area, Berthiaume said.
Both the front area, where cars enter, and the truckers’ ring road will be resurfaced, she said.
Debris and dilapidated ground structures will be removed from the site and benches added.
On Monday, it was clear little maintenance had been performed at the site in years. Grass stands above the knees, and many trees need to removed or trimmed.
Once the rest area fully reopens, landscaping maintenance will be done on a regular basis, said Mary-Joe Perry, highway manager for the state Department of Transportation’s Southeastern Massachusetts district.
“We want this place to look presentable,” she said.
All the officials said they were optimistic that what is an eyesore now will be improved and an asset to drivers.
“Motorists deserve a rest area that is clean and safe,” Auchincloss said. “That’s what they’ll be getting here.”
By: Mike Kirby
Source: The Sun Chronicle