The Community and Economic Development Authority is moving ahead with plans to revamp Merchants Way, and is leveraging grant funding that officials hope will bring the project to fruition sooner rather than later.

CEDA has received a $15,000 grant to pay for drawings of a redesigned Merchants Way -- which is $5,000 more than the department expected -- and a $20,000 grant to improve drains and address stormwater runoff, which can pollute the adjacent Agawam River.

The consultants who are overseeing each individual grant have agreed to work together in creating plans, meaning CEDA will have one set of plans for all the work. CEDA Director Salvador Pina says this may help the town secure state funding to complete the project more quickly.

"The idea was to try to supplement our [Main Street] Streetscape effort" and bring it to Merchants Way, Pina explained. Merchants Way runs parallel to Main Street.

When awarding grants to get construction done, state funding sources favor projects when plans that are ready to go.

"You have to be shovel-ready," Pina said.

The "concept drawings" grant will create a vision for what Merchants Way will look like with completed improvements.

What kind of improvements will be made? Pina and the CEDA board want to hear from you.

Two workshops involving the public will be held, as well as a public hearing. There will also be three meetings with town officials. Then, the plans will be drawn.

"This is an example of how [the public] can be involved in the design process, so when the project is complete, everyone can feel like they were a part of it," Pina said.

Pina has ideas of his own, as well. He wants to "exploit the waterfront" and make downtown Wareham a destination for both tourists and residents.

He hopes that part of the design will include a pedestrian railroad crossing, which will help fishermen and kayakers across the railroad tracks to safely access the water.

As for stormwater… well, that's a big problem on Merchants Way. After a big rainstorm, it's not uncommon to see dumpsters floating out into the flooded roadway.

"The rain has nowhere to go," explained Russ Kleekamp, Vice President of Municipal and Infrastructure for Green Seal Environmental, the consultant for the stormwater grant.

When the water finally drains, it takes trash, animal waste, and other undesirable things with it, which pollute the river.

The solution? Install a system that creates a "first flush" of stormwater, as the first volume of water contains the highest concentration of pollutants, Kleekamp explained.

Such a system can utilize concrete leaching pits, plastic chambers and an infiltration field with perforated plastic pipe, among other things, Kleekamp explained.

Green Seal will figure out how to build the treatment system, and that design will be added to the overall drawings and plans.

CEDA has not yet scheduled its public workshops and hearing. Wareham Week will publish the dates when available.

To receive meeting information via e-mail, visit the Town of Wareham website at www.wareham.ma.us and click "Subscribe to news" in the menu on the left.