State transportation designers have finalized their design for the Route 110 resurfacing and improvements project, saying they listened to feedback from residents, public officials and business people in Methuen and two other communities that the project impacts before wrapping up their work.

The state’s work will be done on 6.3 miles of Route 110 in Lowell, Dracut and Methuen from the Merrimack River bike path in Lowell in the west to Riverside Drive in Methuen in the east, according to MassDOT.

Route 110 has been the site of serious accidents, including fatal ones.

Last year, the department’s plan included shared-use accommodations consisting of a 10-foot-wide shared-use path for the full south side length of the corridor buffered by guardrail or flex posts.

Later, plans to install a guardrail, which local residents and business owners objected to, were dropped by the department.

“MassDOT has held a Design Public Hearing and two Public Information Meetings on this project. Public comments from these meetings has been taken into consideration by the design team, and the team has continued to solicit feedback through emails, letters and calls,” said John Goggin, a department spokesperson. “Additionally, the design team has held multiple meetings with officials from Dracut, Methuen and Lowell and has taken the comments received at those meetings and from public officials to refine the design.”                                                 

The project, roughly $20.5 million, is 80 percent federal-aid funded using the National Highway Performance Program. The state is funding the remaining 20 percent.

The road is designed to include two 11-foot-wide travel lanes, two 4-foot-wide buffers with Sinusoidal rumble strips, two 5-foot-wide bike lanes and one 5.5-foot-wide sidewalk. Sinusoidal rumble strips, also known as mumble strips, have a wave pattern ground into the pavement that lessens the noise made when vehicles go across them, according to transportation experts.

Rumble strips provide a 21 to 43 percent reduction in run-off road crashes, according to MassDOT’s plan.

The plan calls for the use of impact-resistant sign posts, known as flex posts, and median islands on the corridor, and safety improvements at Wheeler Street.

Previously, MassDOT had proposed flex posts along entire corridor. Now, there are 176 total along the corridor – a reduction made because of feedback transportation planners had heard from the public.

There are 10 proposed flex post locations, including five in Methuen: Wheeler Street (nine flex posts), Wheeler Street – north (12), west of the driveway at the Massachusetts Army National Guard Armory (8), between Hill Avenue and Walbrook Street (12), and Moffett Street (14).

According to Goggin, there are a dozen proposed locations for median islands, including six in Methuen: south of Wheeler Street, north of 116 Lowell Boulevard in the wooded section, in front of the Armory, at Griffin Brook Drive at Walbrook Street and at Moffett Street.

The 5-foot-wide bike lanes will be placed along the entire corridor with the exception of a shared-use path in the vicinity of the Lowell Waste Water Department, according to Goggin.

According to designers, where flex posts have been installed, wide openings in the buffer will enable trucks to pull in and out of the road.

To manage speed, some of the department’s proposed measures include speed feedback signs and the median islands.

A work-zone speed limit will be implemented and the department, whose goal is to modify the speed limit, will conduct a speed zoning study at the end of the project’s construction.

MassDOT will advertise for construction work in September. Construction is slated to start late this year. An engineer of the department’s District 4, which includes Methuen, will be on site during construction, according to the department.