Viddler

Residents in Chelmsford, Westford rip Rte. 40 plan

By Rita Savard, rsavard@lowellsun.com
05/13/2009

WESTFORD -- From foul odors and smoke pollution to trucks banging past homes at dawn, residents in two towns are questioning a proposal that would place a 4-acre asphalt plant off Groton Road.

If approved, the manufacturing plant at 540 Groton Road would set production in motion for up to 1,000 tons of asphalt per day. Abutters in Westford and Chelmsford are fired up over the proposal that they argue would put their homes along a delivery route where an average of 150 trucks are expected to drive past daily.
Chelmsford Town Manager Paul Cohen said it's the idea of trucks traveling on off-peak hours, such as 5 a.m., that has prompted e-mails from concerned residents on the Chelmsford side of Groton Road.

While trucks would only have access to exit the facility toward the Chelmsford side, as Tranchemontagne pointed out, access to Route 3 is about a half-mile drive down the road in Chelmsford anyway.

The Groton Road site is zoned as a heavy-industrial area, with an existing rock quarry and a cement-production plant.

Groton Road resident Marie Burnham, who lives on the Chelmsford side of the proposed plant, worries about the plant's emissions in what she sees as a mainly quiet residential neighborhood.

"They say you're not going to smell it because they deodorize it, but you're still getting the toxins," Burnham said. "We have too many children, too many school buses. We have nice homes here in a residential area. They don't care about our health. They don't care about the economic impact. They don't care about the traffic-safety impact, and that makes me upset."

Tranchemontagne said the plant will use entirely "next-generation technology," meaning only the most modern and efficient technology available would be used in construction.

"Our asphalt facility will not emit odors that will bother neighbor