Chelsea says Broadway water, sewer and drainage work will continue into winter; DOT sidewalks and signals to follow

City Manager Fidel Motez said at the Chelsea Chamber of Commerce’s April community outreach meeting that major infrastructure work on Broadway — including replacement of water and sewer lines and separation of storm and sanitary flows — remains underway and is expected to continue through the end of the year.

“The work that is happening now is related to water and sewer. All of the sewer lines and the water services are getting replaced,” City Manager Fidel Motez said. He told meeting attendees the full Broadway corridor will be rebuilt in stages so that the roadway and sidewalks will be “brand new” and “last a hundred years.”

Malcolm, the city’s resident inspector on the project, gave a block‑level update on scheduling and traffic effects. He said crews working on sewer and drainage are making faster‑than‑expected progress and that the section currently under heavy work could be “buttoned up” by mid‑May, with smaller connection work continuing into June. He warned business owners and commuters to expect delays during morning and evening peak periods while crews are active.

Motez said the current phase replaces combined sewer and storm drainage lines so that, once complete, the city will have separate pipes for sanitary sewage and for rainwater. “So at the end of this project, we’ll have dedicated sewer pipes and dedicated drainage or rainwater pipes,” he said, noting the change is both an environmental and a financial benefit because it will reduce combined‑sewer overflows to the river.

After the utility work is finished, Motez said the state’s transportation agency will return to complete sidewalks and make traffic‑flow changes at several intersections. He described planned signal upgrades at Bellingham Square and new signals or flashing lights on several cross streets. The city expects the MassDOT phase to occur later and said a $12,000,000 state funding package is tied to the schedule; that state funding, Motez said, means the Department of Transportation’s timeline will shape when sidewalks and streetscaping occur.

On short‑term impacts, the project team said work on fiber cabling and water reconnections will cause brief daytime interruptions (described by the project inspector as generally one or two days at each business frontage). Malcolm provided a narrower window for the fiber work in the section described to the meeting, saying crews plan work roughly between June 4 and June 26 for the blocks discussed.

Motez and staff urged residents and business owners to consult the city’s construction landing page for ongoing schedule updates. Jen Hasell, executive director of the Chelsea Chamber of Commerce, told attendees the chamber’s site links directly to the city page and that the chamber will continue hosting monthly updates.

The city framed the multi‑year Broadway project as the culmination of planning that began around 2014 and was carried forward through several administrations; Motez said it is intended to modernize utilities and the public realm, but he acknowledged the construction period creates significant short‑term impacts for businesses and residents. “I didn’t want as much as possible for people to say, ‘I didn’t know,’” he said, explaining the outreach intent.

Where to get updates: the project team recommended the city’s construction landing page and the chamber’s event notices for monthly outreach sessions.