Orleans Committee Scopes Main Street Sidewalk Design Study, Targets November Town Meeting

ORLEANS -- April 6, 2026, Orleans sidewalk committee directs engineer to scope Main Street design at four constrained locations. The committee voted by consensus at its April 6 meeting to have VHB and Director of Public Works Calvin Sutton cost out cross-section analyses at the Academy of Performing Arts frontage, the town cemetery, a commercial stretch, and a hedge-lined section near Academy Place, plus the signalized Tonset Road intersection, the most targeted direction the project has received since VHB was hired in 2021. A December 2025 field survey by BHB confirmed a consistent 60-foot town right-of-way along the entire 6,600-foot corridor, resolving a longstanding uncertainty that had made design decisions difficult; the engineer reported that both remaining alternatives can fit within that right-of-way without permanent property takings. Utility pole relocation remains a cost variable: Millstone Road experience put the figure at roughly $20,000 per pole, with Main Street requiring five relocations under Alternative 1 or 11 under Alternative 2. The committee hopes to bring engineering appropriations to the November 2026 Town Meeting.