Just when you thought road closures, traffic, and construction were winding down in Danvers: Mass Department of Transportation (DOT) has approved a three-year $7.1 million project that will reconstruct 3,000 feet on Liberty Street. 

Danvers Public Works Director David Lane said the project is necessary for the replacement of the two granite block culverts at the Porter River. 

"It's in danger of collapsing, we need to replace it," Lane told the selectmen at Tuesday night's meeting. 

Because of the high costs of the replacement, the town applied under Mass DOT's Transportation Improvement Program (TIP), which Lane said means the town funds the design in accordance with state guidelines, and the state pays for it.

Lane said Danvers applied for the grant project seven years ago, and received approval from Mass DOT for Fiscal 2014 in June. 

The reconstruction from High Street to Pauline Drive will include: 

• Two 12-foot lanes
• Two four-foot shoulders
• Two six-foot sidewalks
• Traffic signal updates at the Port corner
• Grass strip between sidewalk and roadway
• Drop off lane at Riverside Elementary
• Pavement and drainage reconstruction
• Raise roadway at causeway out of flood plain
• Replace granite block culverts with a 16x6.5 ft and 12x6.5ft box culverts at Porter River
• Trees and grass along roadway

Lane said when the state replaces the culverts they will use concrete box culverts that are designed to last in salt water, and the causeway will be raised 18 inches so Liberty Street won't flood in storms and high tides. 

Traffic management, working with business owners, including the marinas, and road closures are going to make this project 'a tricky one,' Lane said. 

"Like we do in true Danvers fashion, we need to do make sure we've done everything we need to do to accommodate residents and businesses," he said.

Now that Danvers has designed it, Mass DOT will run the job, advertising for bids in late 2012, and starting construction in spring 2013, Lane said.

Lane estimated the work will take three years to complete. 

Chairman of the Board Bill Clark asked if 24-hour work on the culverts would expedite the work, resulting in less road closures. "This is going to be an unbelievable concern," Clark said, noting that "Route 128 is going to be nothing compared to this."

The problem, he said, is when Liberty Street is closed for people coming from Elliott Street, the alternative route adds on roughly three more miles. 

Selectman Keith Lucy joked, "Which culvert project will be finished first--this one, or the Water Street one?"

The last project done with TIP funding was the reconstruction on Pine Street from 2000-2002.