Worcester Business Journal

4 Worcester Business Journal | August 7, 2017 | wbjournal.com C E N T R A L M AS S I N B R I E F T he Worcester city adminis- tration is working to relocate a Shrewsbury truck transfer station closer to the CSX rail yard to cut down on the number of trucks passing through resi- dential city streets. City Manager Edward Augustus told the City Council in July he has been working with the Route 20 business to find a location closer to the CSX facility off Grafton Street near downtown to help solve the longstanding conflict between the industrial property and residents who say the trucks are a nuisance and poten- tial danger to the neighborhood. A legal route About 250 truck trips a week go to a yard at Routes 20 and 140 in Shrewsbury leased and operated by G&U Logistix, a Hopedale contractor for CSX. Shaun Keefe, the G&U presi- dent, said he's open to finding eight to 10 acres of space closer to the rail yard. "We're looking to relocate, something that makes sense for everybody," Keefe said. "We understand the frustration of the residents, but it's a legal route, and we travel it." A few potential sites are being looked at to host a truck transfer station closer to CSX, Augustus said. "This is a private vendor," Augustus said of the station owner, "and we've got to find another private vendor who would be willing on his terms to rent that space and let this deal happen." Trucks using the Shrewsbury site handle overflow shipping containers when the CSX yard needs additional room between the time when trains V E R B A T I M Time to buy "We're in acquisition mode in an industry that's not investing money. There are good opportunities for smaller companies like ours to gain some critical mass." Harris MacNeill, president and CEO of Marlborough sports equipment manufacturer Harris MacNeill Group, on looking for new deals after its merger with Tennessee competitor PrideSports Hiring troubles "We hear anecdotes from companies in multiple industries that are turning away business or postponing expansions because they can't find tech specialists, manufacturing workers or electricians to take the new jobs." Raymond Torto, chairman of the Associated Industries of Massachusetts' Board of Economic Advisors, on business confidence slipping in July due to employer hiring concerns Electricity rate hikes "As customers and businesses across our state are looking to trim their costs, now is not the time to burden them with a 20-percent bill hike to benefit a company that is already highly profitable." Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, asking the Department of Public Utilities to reject a rate-increase request from Eversource Energy Worcester wants to move CSX's truck station BY GRANT WELKER Worcester Business Journal News Editor drop off containers and trucks come to deliver it to their destination. Those trucks travel down Grafton and Hamilton streets to Lake Avenue to Route 20, Keefe said, a trip of about six miles in each direction. Cutting down on traffic Worcester officials have more broad- ly sought to cut down on truck traffic through all of Grafton Hill, which has streets lined with a mix of businesses, single-family and multifamily homes. "If you take 150 trucks out of that neighborhood, people will notice it," Augustus said. The rail freight yard is an economic driver for Worcester, but one causing enough traffic from trucks picking up shipments that signs have been installed on the Massachusetts Turnpike telling drivers to use I-290 to get to the facility, not through back roads that GPS sug- gests. CSX completed a $100-million expansion of its facility in 2012 and extended its entrance from Franklin Street to Grafton Street. The rail company has said it works to limit impacts on neighbors whenever possible, including encouraging drivers – who are not CSX employees – to make only right turns leaving the rail yard. Those efforts include briefings with drivers and their superiors. City councilors Candy Mero-Carlson and George Russell, whose districts include the CSX yard and Grafton Street corridor, respectively, have led a push for further action from the city. "The people on Grafton Hill want to know, and the people on Grafton Hill want to make sure that it's not on the back burner, because it's an issue that affects their lives on a daily basis, on an hourly basis," Russell said. Other than asking G&U to move, the city may be restricted otherwise in how much it can do. Only the state can ban trucks on par- ticular roads, said Augustus, and a traf- fic study would have to show truck traf- fic is enough of a burden to force a ban. The city is planning a traffic study this fall as a first step. CSX completed a $100-million expansion of its facility five years ago, but the associated traffic has bothered its residential neighbors. W P H O T O / G R A N T W E L K E R

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