Renovations Planned for Roadway at Thurston Middle School

By the time September rolls around, students and teachers over at Thurston Middle School will notice a bit of a change to the outside of the school.

"We're going to be replacing the entire road from Nahatan Street to High Street, and we're going to be replacing the majority of the curbing that exists there now," said Heath Petracca, Director of Business and Finance for Westwood Public Schools.

Renovations are also planned for the sidewalk that is near the building, so that from Nahatan to High Street, it will be level with the road, eliminating the hill-like walk that exists there now.  

The renovations, which are to the outside landscaping of the building and not to the building itself, are part of the middle school modular project that was completed last year.

That construction involved the addition of multiple classrooms, bathrooms and office areas, Petracca said. Because it was modular construction, pieces of the building were constructed offsite, craned in and finally welded together by Vanguard Modular Building Systems, LLC of Danvers, the company assigned to work on the renovations.

The project began in the spring of 2009, and paused briefly in May that year for MCAS testing. Things picked up in June and was completed prior to the 2009-2010 school year.

Total budget for the project, Petracca said, was originally $4.5 million dollars, and the bid came in at $3.5 million, leaving the town under budget about $230,000. That includes all the building and site work out back, all the engineering fees and professional services and furniture and equipment. This allowed the town to move forward with additional funds to fix the sidewalk and roadway at the school.

The sidewalk project, Petracca said, is currently out to bid, and bids are due back by July 14 at 11 a.m. in the district office. The town is looking to begin work on or near July 28 with an expected completion date of August 27.

While much of the construction will be to the roadway at the school, there will be no changes to parking spaces in the lot.

"We're not adding any more parking or paving," Petracca said. "The paving that exists there now is going to exist, we're just going to replace it."