Update: MassDOT Salt Shed Meeting – January 15, 2015

By Julie McCay Turner

“It’s not over yet,” seems to be story of the proposed relocation of MassDOT’s salt shed to state-owned land in the cloverleaf at Rtes 62 and 3.

A crowd of vigorously vocal abutters/residents as well as Town officials and MassDOT staffers/consultants filled Town Hall’s MultiPurpose room for a meeting that began at 7 pm on Thursday evening, and lasted long past 9 pm.

MassDOT’s Chief of Operations and Maintenance Thomas J. Tinlin opened the meeting and introduced a cadre of specialists, architects, designers, and staff before Acting District 4 Highway Director Paul Stedman took over, balancing professional presentations with community concerns.

Community concerns centered on noise and light pollution; the contamination and flooding of Vine Brook; the dislocation of wildlife; the protection of historic Wilson Mill; and the impact of MassDOT trucks on the already difficult traffic in the area.

Among its presentations, the MassDOT team noted that:

• While the area will be in daily use, the number of workers will be small, with 2-3 individuals working normal hours (7:30 am to 4 pm) for 9 to 10 months of the year. MassDOT estimates approximately 8 to 10 “spreaders” will use the barn during 30 “storm events” per year, (approximately 10 snow storms and 20 icy road events). Many residents were surprised to learn that snow plows won’t visit the salt shed because they are staged differently, typically waiting atop bridges over Rte 3, or moving in convoys to clear the roads.
• In the approximately 7-acre parcel, the actual work yard will cover 2 acres with an 80’ x 100’ barn at the northern end of the property. The barn will be exceptionally tall, over 40’, so that trucks delivering salt/sand can back into the barn, dump their salt within the building, and then pull out. Because back-up alarms are typically located at the rear of the vehicles on which they’re mounted, the sound waves will head into the center of the barn as the trucks back in, lessening their noise pollution.
• Storm water will be filtered through a series of catchment basins, including a sediment forebay, with the possible inclusion of a “rain garden”that might include a grass buffer strip, sand bed, ponding area, organic layer or mulch layer, planting soil, and plants.

At the end of the evening Tinlin clearly stated that Bedford residents’ concerns were not lost on the MassDOT team, and that there is a “lot of homework to do” before MassDOT returns to Bedford for further discussion.

MassDOT has filed a Notice of Intent with Bedford’s Conservation Commission, and the Selectmen will discuss the salt shed during their meeting on Tuesday, January 20. Both events will be covered in The Citizen, along with additional, detailed materials from Thursday’s meeting and letters from residents.

Stay tuned: There’s more to come.

Editor’s Note: Click to view MassDOT – Bedford – preliminary design as a PDF with somewhat better readability