U.S. 20 or Route 20 is the longest highway in the country, stretching from Boston, Massachusetts, to Newport, Oregon. The route traverses many towns, including Charlton, Massachusetts, a suburb of Worcester. The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT), along with design-build team DW White and TranSystems, is reconstructing a section of Route 20 between Charlton and Oxford, Massachusetts.
MassDOT has made improvements along Route 20 in Charlton and Oxford over many years. The department reconstituted a section west of this project in Charlton in the early 2000s, and the reconstruction of the section east of this project in Auburn, Massachusetts, was completed in 2017. The average daily traffic along the corridor is approximately 26,000.
The previous projects have made the highway fully median-divided between Charlton and Auburn. Before the former projects, the corridor was an undivided roadway with four travel lanes (two in each direction) and 1-foot shoulders.
There was a push to install a median because a significant number of crashes have occurred along the corridor. Some of these crashes have led to fatalities, including one in 2015.
"Due to the crash history, a road safety audit was performed, which provided the team with an opportunity to review crash patterns and identify improvements that could be included in the project to reduce the potential number of crashes in the future," said John Goggin, a MassDOT Communication Analyst.
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Crash data was gathered as part of the preliminary design process and used for the road safety audit. In a period of nearly four years for which data were available, there were 87 crashes reported. The highest crash types along the corridor involved rear-end collisions, which accounted for 40 percent of crashes.
"While performing the road safety audit process, the team found that vehicles stop in the left-most lane of Route 20 to turn left onto an unsignalized roadway or driveway, which is a contributing factor to this high number of rear-end collisions," Goggin said. "A total of 16 percent of the crashes were sideswipe collisions, which may be caused by this same condition."
Based on the audit's findings, MassDOT decided to install a median, which would eliminate the potential for left turns into and out of the unsignalized roadways and driveways along the corridor.
It will also redirect vehicles to use signalized intersections and a new roundabout to reverse direction.
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The team is also installing designated emergency pull-off areas, which will provide locations for law enforcement officers to enforce the posted speed limit.
Along one section of Route 20, the team is installing a median to divide the route. Another section of the roadway will be separated with a concrete median barrier. On a final section of Route 20, the roadway will be divided via a raised median island.
Other project elements include:
- Resurfacing the roadway to provide a wider shoulder
- Realigning the roadway in select locations
- Adding turning lanes at signalized intersections with new traffic signal equipment at a busy intersection
- Constructing a new multilane roundabout to provide an additional location for traffic to reverse direction on the corridor
- Replacement of two bridges (one over the Little River in Charlton and the second over the French River in Oxford)
- Installing an 8-foot shared-use path for pedestrians and bicyclists along a section of northbound Route 20
- Installing a sidewalk along a section of southbound Route 20
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MassDOT aims to mitigate speeds along the corridor. The department’s website says that "the corridor operating speeds and crashes have been compared with adjacent sections of Route 20 during the previous project phase. ... Design elements shown to reduce speeds have been incorporated into the project."
Those design elements are:
- Designated emergency pull-off areas for police enforcement and safe vehicle refuge
- Speed feedback signs and chevron signage at curves
- Advisory speed limit signage, cautioning lower speed limit at a roadway curve near Oxbow Road/Oak Drive
- Modest modifications to improve roadway vertical and horizontal geometry
- Modest roadway widening providing median and roadside shoulders
- Existing regulatory speed limit signage, which MassDOT will retain post-construction
Although the design-build team won the contract in September 2022, construction began in March 2024.
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The contract completion date is November 2026, but the design-builder expects to reach full beneficial use in the fall of 2025. The work that the team will complete between the two dates includes landscaping and wetland replication. The design-build team anticipates completing the remaining work by early spring 2026. Meeting the tight construction schedule has been a real test for the team.
"One of the bigger challenges was completing a large amount of work within a single construction season [2024]," Goggin said.
The design-build team has maintained the schedule.
Goggin praises the project team's ability to work closely alongside MassDOT for coordinating the work, managing schedules, and phasing activities effectively.
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"Clear communication and collaboration with the utility providers allowed the project schedule to be expedited," Goggin said.
Maintenance of traffic was also a challenge. Work required the reduction of a full lane of traffic on Route 20 in both directions at times for several segments of the project area.
"MassDOT and the project team communicated the benefits of the lane reductions to the public," Goggin said.
MassDOT regularly delivers public works projects valued at over $5 million via design-build. Goggin noted that the delivery method has regularly helped MassDOT reduce the expected completion time of projects.
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"The design-build process was chosen, as it generally returns a total project schedule that is shorter than design-bid-build, while at the same time giving the awarded design-builder the opportunity to design and construct the project in a way that allows the team to be innovative in construction staging and to lessen the duration of the utility," Goggin said.
The design-build team won the project based on their technical proposal and price proposal. DW White and TranSystems have worked separately on various MassDOT projects in the past and have a familiarity with the way MassDOT works.
"Both companies have the ability to complete a corridor reconstruction of this size," Goggin said.
The project is on budget. The total cost for the project, including construction bid items and contingencies, is just under $108 million. The project is being funded by state and federal dollars, with 80 percent coming from the federal government and 20 percent from the state.
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The project also included a $2.8 million MassWorks Infrastructure Program grant, awarded in December 2021. The MassWorks award supported the extension of the existing sewer main along Route 20. The sewer work was completed as non-participating work and as part of the contract.
Along with improving safety on the Route 20 corridor, the project also enhanced multi-mobility and replaced two functionally obsolete bridges. With the addition of a shared-use path on the westbound and eastbound sides of Route 20, the project has benefited both cyclists (eastbound only) and pedestrians.
