Wills Work Road
March 26, 2019 - For your information. This is an article updating the status of the Town of Mashpee and State plans for Wills Work Rd. and Callie's Beach.
Frustration Mounts Over Lack of Progress On Will's Work Road
By SAM HOUGHTON
Town officials see potential for a town-owned beach at the end of Will’s Work Road in the South Cape Beach reserve.
Selectman Thomas F. O’Hara envisions what would be Mashpee’s only town-owned marina. “What an asset that would be to the town,” Mr. O’Hara said. He imagines shoppers taking an Uber to the beach from Mashpee Commons, and possibly taking in the sunset over Waquoit Bay with a cocktail.
For town manager Rodney C. Collins, his vision, at least in public, is a little more humble, but he has high hopes for the beach nonetheless. He wants a paved road with a proper parking lot at the end of the road; one that will not nearly cut through a residential area.
As it stands now, the road is regraded annually by the state. But often, the road has numerous lumps and puddles, which emergency personnel view as a security threat. Emergency vehicles can have difficulty traversing the road.
Also, realigning the road will grant some relief to its neighbors, a development known as Whippoorwill. Residents in the area have complained that beachgoers, often late at night, mistake their road for the entrance to Will’s Work Road.
The problem is, though, that the state has yet to move on the long-wished-for realignment of the road.
“The lack of progress with the realignment has been very frustrating,” Mr. Collins said in an interview this week.
The town manager’s comments follows a legislative update at a Mashpee Board of Selectmen’s meeting on Monday, March 11. During the update, Mr. Collins asked Representative David T. Vieira (Falmouth-R) if any progress had been made at the South Cape location.
“The realignment of Will’s Work, in my lifetime, are we going to see it?” Mr. Collins asked. “I’m not a betting man,” Mr. Vieira answered. He further said that the road could be more difficult to realign than previously thought. The planned road, Mashpee’s state house representative said, traverses a marshy area. The discussion was left at that.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts owns most of the beach at the end of Will’s Work Road, known as Callie’s Beach, as well as the property where the road traverses. The Town of Mashpee owns 10 acres in the Will’s Work area, including a small section of the Waquoit Bay shore.
In 2014, former governor Deval L. Patrick signed a $2.2 billion environmental bond bill, and earmarked in it was $500,000 to realign Will’s Work Road. If funds from the bond bill make it to Mashpee, Will’s Work could be connected to Great Oak Road (the road provides access to South Cape Beach Park and Mashpee Town Beach). The earmark was a collaborative effort between the town and the state. Senator Daniel A. Wolf (D-Harwich) added the earmark as an amendment to the Senate version of the bill.
Mr. Collins joined Mr. Vieira and a number of state officials at the beach to tour the site, but since then, the funds have failed to get to Mashpee. While the state annually regrades the road, Mr. Collins thinks that they can do better.
Mr. O’Hara said that the blame should not fall solely on the state. The selectman did not rule out blaming himself for not putting a little more pressure on state agencies to make the project happen.
Will’s Work may have been lost in the shuffle while dealing with wastewater and marijuana dispensaries looking to move to town, he said. But Mr. O’Hara said that he is glad the topic resurfaced. It may have pushed him to put a little more pressure on the state.
Frustration Mounts Over Lack of Progress On Will's Work Road
By SAM HOUGHTON
Town officials see potential for a town-owned beach at the end of Will’s Work Road in the South Cape Beach reserve.
Selectman Thomas F. O’Hara envisions what would be Mashpee’s only town-owned marina. “What an asset that would be to the town,” Mr. O’Hara said. He imagines shoppers taking an Uber to the beach from Mashpee Commons, and possibly taking in the sunset over Waquoit Bay with a cocktail.
For town manager Rodney C. Collins, his vision, at least in public, is a little more humble, but he has high hopes for the beach nonetheless. He wants a paved road with a proper parking lot at the end of the road; one that will not nearly cut through a residential area.
As it stands now, the road is regraded annually by the state. But often, the road has numerous lumps and puddles, which emergency personnel view as a security threat. Emergency vehicles can have difficulty traversing the road.
Also, realigning the road will grant some relief to its neighbors, a development known as Whippoorwill. Residents in the area have complained that beachgoers, often late at night, mistake their road for the entrance to Will’s Work Road.
The problem is, though, that the state has yet to move on the long-wished-for realignment of the road.
“The lack of progress with the realignment has been very frustrating,” Mr. Collins said in an interview this week.
The town manager’s comments follows a legislative update at a Mashpee Board of Selectmen’s meeting on Monday, March 11. During the update, Mr. Collins asked Representative David T. Vieira (Falmouth-R) if any progress had been made at the South Cape location.
“The realignment of Will’s Work, in my lifetime, are we going to see it?” Mr. Collins asked. “I’m not a betting man,” Mr. Vieira answered. He further said that the road could be more difficult to realign than previously thought. The planned road, Mashpee’s state house representative said, traverses a marshy area. The discussion was left at that.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts owns most of the beach at the end of Will’s Work Road, known as Callie’s Beach, as well as the property where the road traverses. The Town of Mashpee owns 10 acres in the Will’s Work area, including a small section of the Waquoit Bay shore.
In 2014, former governor Deval L. Patrick signed a $2.2 billion environmental bond bill, and earmarked in it was $500,000 to realign Will’s Work Road. If funds from the bond bill make it to Mashpee, Will’s Work could be connected to Great Oak Road (the road provides access to South Cape Beach Park and Mashpee Town Beach). The earmark was a collaborative effort between the town and the state. Senator Daniel A. Wolf (D-Harwich) added the earmark as an amendment to the Senate version of the bill.
Mr. Collins joined Mr. Vieira and a number of state officials at the beach to tour the site, but since then, the funds have failed to get to Mashpee. While the state annually regrades the road, Mr. Collins thinks that they can do better.
Mr. O’Hara said that the blame should not fall solely on the state. The selectman did not rule out blaming himself for not putting a little more pressure on state agencies to make the project happen.
Will’s Work may have been lost in the shuffle while dealing with wastewater and marijuana dispensaries looking to move to town, he said. But Mr. O’Hara said that he is glad the topic resurfaced. It may have pushed him to put a little more pressure on the state.