Work Begins Next Week to make Octopus Intersection Safer

Preliminary work has begun on the much talked about "Octopus intersection" in Downtown New Bedford.  Surveyors were busy there on Thursday.

D-P-I Commissioner Ron Labelle says work will begin next week to make that intersection safer for pedestrians.  "As everyone knows, we took the pedestrian bridge down because it was structurelly unsound, so now the improvements are going to be to the geometry of the intersection," said Labelle.

He said the work will include straightening out the crosswalks so pedestrians will have a shorter area to cross.

Labelle says the work might require some lane closures, but the intersection will never be completely closed to traffic.

He says the "phase one" work will be completed before the end of the year.