Dedham Square Construction Countdown Begins

The $6 million-plus Dedham Square Improvement Project will begin in less than two weeks with reconstruction of the Keystone parking lot, project managers said Monday evening.

Nearly 25 Square business owners and residents gathered at a meeting with project managers and town officials to hear the final schedule for the project and to learn how they can keep updated on the progress. It was one of two meetings the town held on Monday.

Work will begin a bit delayed, as the contractor, Fed. Corp., awaited results of final testing. Work is slated to begin in the next 10 to 14 days, said Al Morteo, of Fed. Corp.

According to the project's schedule, work was supposed to begin this week.

Construction crews will begin work in the back half of the Keystone parking lot and the lot commonly referred to as the permit lot. Once that work is complete, they will open that up for use and begin work on the other half of the Keystone lot.

"That's an important consideration before we start doing work on the roads," said Karen O'Connell, the town's economic development director.

There will be additional parking at Dedham Crossing, at the intersection of High and Harris streets.

Dedham's farmers market will relocate from the Eastern Avenue parking lot to the green space in front of the on the corner of High and Court streets.

Project managers will keep residents and business owners abrest of the progress through email, a dedicated website and social media.

Updates will include planned utility outages, construction schedules and other pertinent information.

"Anyway we can get out information, it is important to get that to you," said Jason Mammone, Dedham's director of engineering.