Canton pressing for bridges

Canton continues to press for road and infrastructure spending tied to Westwood Station. Its legislators met last week with Patrick administration officials to reiterate the town's desire for a 5-lane bridge over Interstate 95 and widening of two bridges on Dedham Street.
The legislators emphasized that Canton recently agreed in negotiations with Westwood Station developer Cabot, Cabot & Forbes to accept a temporary 5-lane bridge over the highway, state Sen. Brian Joyce said.
``We were informed that the administration is carefully considering immediate funding support for the two, four-lane bridge expansions on Dedham Street'' over the Neponset River and MBTA rail tracks, Joyce, a Milton Democrat whose district includes Canton, wrote in a Friday letter to Canton selectmen.
State Rep. William Galvin, D-Canton, is also negotiating for that town.
Canton wants Dedham Street to be widened from two to four lanes to accommodate traffic from Westwood Station. The two bridges would be part of the widened Dedham Street from I-95 to University Avenue.
``While no commitments were made, the administration will continue to work with all impacted communities as this project progresses,'' said Kofi Jones, spokeswoman for Dan O'Connell, secretary of housing and economic development, in a brief statement yesterday.
Canton has been engaged in a struggle on multiple fronts with CC&F over Westwood Station, a 4.5-million-square-foot project the town says will overwhelm neighboring roads with 65,000 additional cars each day.
According to Selectman Robert Burr, Canton wants an estimated $20 million in infrastructure work from Cabot, Cabot & Forbes, including the expansion of Dedham Street, the Westwood Station site. CC&F President Jay Doherty declared an end to his firm's talks with Canton last week, citing the town's decision to appeal the recent dismissal of its lawsuit against the state and the developer.
CC&F has already committed to $120 million of infrastructure and mitigation work for Westwood Station.
The meeting with top officials in Gov. Deval Patrick's administration represents another tack by Canton - at the same time CC&F has been looking to the state for infrastructure money.
CC&F has said it plans to apply for funding through the Infrastructure Investment Incentive law, or I-Cubed, a special state statute that could provide up to $50 million for on-site infrastructure work.
I-Cubed provides state capital funds for public infrastructure tied to private development, fronting money in exchange for a guarantee of economic benefits like job creation and related tax revenues. CC&F spokesman Michael Goldman said last week the company was reviewing the regulations for I-Cubed.
In the meeting, the two Canton legislators pushed the idea that any I-Cubed funding for Westwood Station ``be dependent upon the developer entering into appropriate agreements with the town to address concerns over the regional infrastructure burden that would be created by the project,'' Joyce wrote.
``The state said that if they were going to go down that path and give the developer that extra $50 million,'' Galvin said, ``that they'd definitely do the extra two bridges and spend that $20 million.''
``The whole key to any kind of funds - whether they get it through the I-Cubed legislation or whether the developer tries to get it from a stimulus package from the federal government - is that the project has to be shovel-ready. And the problem with Westwood Station is that they're not at that point,'' Galvin added. ``They have to come to an agreement with the town of Canton.''
Construction has not begun on the mega-development. Goldman said last week that CC&F reduced its Westwood Station construction spending from $5 million a month to $2 million a month in November, and will spend $1 million in each of the winter months, including December.
He said the developer owns the Westwood Station site outright, which is a ``huge advantage'' because it does not have to pay debt service on the site every month.
Daily News staff writer Edward B. Colby can be reached at 781-433-8336 or ecolby@cnc.com.