Did you know that construction on the Main Street Corridor Project started on January 19? Neither did I.

On January 30, I reached out to Town Manager Norman Khumalo to express concerns and ask questions regarding the Main Street Corridor Project’s two-way bike path. To my surprise, his response stated that the project “is now under construction.” He referred me to the project’s ClearGov link where the project timeline says “Construction begins Spring 2021.” I responded to Mr. Khumalo, questioning the accuracy of the website’s information if construction had, indeed, already begun. He wrote back, “Per the Town’s press release of January 8, 2021, MassDOT commenced construction on January 19th.”

The start of construction of a project as large as the Main Street Corridor Project did not make the local news on January 19. Hopkinton’s official Twitter account did not mark this milestone. The town website provides a link to the January 8 press release which this newspaper reported with the title, “Pre-construction meeting held for Main Street Corridor Project.”

The press release states that public outreach “will include a dedicated Main Street Corridor Project website which will be updated on a weekly basis. A future press release will announce the formal launch of the project website.” More than two weeks into construction and no press release has announced the project website with weekly updates.

Given that construction of such a major project began with minimal publicity and with outdated information regarding the start of construction on the project’s ClearGov website, I respectfully request that town officials work to improve communication and transparency. Currently, the project appears to be in a low-impact phase; however, we will be living with this construction for at least the next two years through much higher-impact phases of construction, and we need access to accurate and up-to-date information.

— Lucia V. Lopez, Hopkinton

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