February
22,
2007
By Jill Casey
/ The Daily Item
Finding ways to ease the burden of the Boston Street Bridge
reconstruction project was the topic of a meeting between
state and local officials this week, but at least one abutting
business owner did not walk away feeling there was a resolution
reached.
“I’m not optimistic. The state has to get
their work done,” said Mary O’Brien reiterating
what she heard at Wednesday’s meeting in City Hall
with MassHighway.
O’Brien owns the Boston Street Café with
her husband John. Their restaurant sits next to the bridge
and they claim business has dropped considerably since
the project began in late November. The O’Brien’s
do not believe their business can survive the length of
the project because congestion and the traffic bottleneck
have caused their customers to avoid the area.
“I really don’t know what we are going to
do at this point,” said O’Brien. “The
(state) seems to feel that these things just happen and
change happens.”
The $3.7 million MassHighway bridge reconstruction project
is expected to run through May 2009. The end result will
be a new modernized bridge, but local officials say they
want traffic and construction issues to be adjusted to
ease the impact on the neighborhood and reduce the safety
issues that have arose since the project began.
“I convened the meeting because by doing nothing
a Lynn business will go out of business,” said James
Cowdell, executive director of the Economic Development
and Industrial Corporation. “I think by the end of
the meeting (MassHighway) understood the seriousness of
the situation.”
*
State Sen. Thomas McGee, (D-Lynn), visited the site a few
weeks ago and said he believes a solution can be reached
between the state and the city. A member of McGee’s
staff attended Wednesday’s meeting.
“I think part of the solution should be taking a
look at the traffic set-up,” he said. “That
bridge needed repairs. It’s one of the major access
points between Lynn and Saugus. It had to be done, but
at the same time, you want to make sure the impact to businesses
and residents is as minimal as possible.”
McGee said he is confident the city will reach an agreement
with the state in the coming weeks on a better construction
and traffic plan and that could mean advising the detail
officers to direct traffic in a different way or moving
construction materials in a manner that may not bog down
the site as much.
State Rep. Steve Walsh, (D-Lynn),
said he is “cautiously
optimistic” about the state being attentive to the
city’s complaints about the project.
“The city has done a great job responding to residents
concerns, but the state has to be as supportive. It’s
time for them to step up and do the right thing for residents
and business owners,” Walsh said.
The bridge runs over the Saugus River and connects Boston
Street in Lynn to Lincoln Avenue in Saugus. Both municipalities
have dual ownership of the bridge.
A MassHighway spokesman said after
listening to legislators’ and
business owners’ concerns this week, they will work
to devise a new strategy.
“We are looking at how we can make some modifications
to the traffic management plan and the work site to minimize
the impacts to the area,” said Erik Abbell. “Any
project has an impact on abutters and at this point we
want to continue to look for ways that we can move forward.”
|
