Mattapoisett Trees

To the Editor

            Thank you to everyone who attended the DOT hearing on June 18th and to those who submitted questions which were due last week. The Town is moving forward with good discussions at the Select Board Meetings on the formation of a Committee to assist the Select Board on this road project and at least 10 citizens have volunteered to serve on the Committee. This is wonderful progress and our Town should unite to work on this project for results that will best serve our community, including saving as many of our heritage trees as possible.

            This corridor road project has already taken many years and we have heard that it is scheduled to begin in 2028. That is not a promise from DOT, it is an estimate. To get all the bells and whistles that are included in this project we must wait this long, we must go through all the steps of working with DOT. Our Highway Department will still need to manage the repairs to the roadway in the meantime, just as our Tree Warden will continue to monitor the health of our trees on this roadway. Our Select Board will continue to hold important meetings on this project just as we believe the new Committee will do the same. And our role as citizens interested in knowing what the project will look like when the final 25% plan is submitted to DOT have several ways to continue to follow what changes are being made:

            1. Check the Select Board agendas which are posted at Town Hall and available online under the Select Board listing on the Town Website. Here you can also see videos of their meetings that discuss the Road Project.

            2. Follow our Facebook pages that have been set up for this project: Friends of Mattapoisett Village Roads and Friends of Mattapoisett Trees. We’ll continue to provide links on these pages for new developments

            3. And of course, if you are reading this, you read our local newspapers. A special thanks to The Wanderer for covering the developments concerning our Village Corridor and the village trees.

            A sincere thanks to everyone in our town working on this,

Sandra Hering

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