Millstone Road Improvement Project
Project Goals:
- Provide ADA compliant sidewalk for entire length of road
- Improve safety for all users
- Vehicles: improve roadway geometry
- Pedestrians: add sidewalk
- Bicyclists: create consistent shoulder and add sidewalk
- Provide better interconnections with existing transportation network (Cape Cod Rail Trail, Nickerson Park, Route 6A, and beyond) and improve access to Town amenities (beaches, ponds, schools, businesses, Sea Camps, etc)
- Improve drainage systems and stormwater treatment
- Eliminate need for permanent easements on private property
- Maintain character of scenic road
Millstone Road Improvement
In 2015, Town Meeting approved a $10M road bond to undertake several major road reconstruction projects. The Town first completed significant upgrades to both Underpass and Snow Roads. In 2017, the Town solicited bids for engineering services and hired Vanasse, Hangen, Brustlin, Inc (VHB) to prepare plans for similar upgrades to Millstone Road.
Millstone Road connects Routes 6A to the north with Route 137 to the south. One of the Town’s main thoroughfares, approximately 25% of Brewster residents live on or adjacent to this 2.5 mile corridor, which conveys almost 4000 vehicles a day on average.
From before conceptual design in Summer 2018 through to 75% design in Fall 2020, the Town held three well-attended public forums seeking feedback from residents and providing project status updates. In Spring 2021, work on the project was temporarily suspended due to an impending transition in DPW Directors and resident concerns about some elements of the proposed 75% design. At the time, the Select Board and Town Administration were also seeking to potentially purchase the Cape Cod Sea Camps properties on Route 6A and Long Pond Road and recognized that the acquisition of those properties by the Town might impact this road improvement project.
The Town held a fourth public forum on Thursday February 17, 2022 from 6-8PM to give a status update on the revised project and provide residents with an opportunity to ask questions and make comments. The forum can be viewed here. A copy of the presentation can be found here.
Residents submitted written input on the updated design during the public comment period, which lasted from February 18 to March 10, 2022. All feedback was shared with the Select Board, who then voted to move forward with the revised design at their meeting on April 25, 2022.
Since Spring 2022, Town staff have been working with our design consultant, VHB, to finalize the plan. In Summer 2023, the Town secured necessary state permitting approvals and is currently working through local approvals, in addition to coordinating with utility companies regarding relocation of utility poles and associated infrastructure. We are also working with residents on Millstone Road regarding temporary access to their properties during construction.
Based on the final design and costing from recent similar projects on Cape, the total cost of the Millstone Road improvements, including temporary easement expenses, utility relocation, and project oversight, is currently estimated at $10.3M. In addition to $5.75M in road bonds, the Town has an available balance of just under $2M in Chapter 90 state aid for this purpose. To move forward with bidding the project, the Town sought Town Meeting approval to appropriate $2.15M from Free Cash and $250,000 from road betterments, and to reappropriate $150,000 from previously approved funding from the Sea Camps Pool Parking Lot project. This appropriation was approved by Town Meeting on November 13, 2023.
The Town hopes to begin site work in Fall 2024. Based on that timeline, we anticipate the project will be completed by the end of Fall 2025.
For more information, please view our Related Resources page.