Saugus residents voice concerns over Belden Bly Bridge project

SAUGUS – About 40 residents braved the slick roads Wednesday to meet with the state highway department over the Belden Bly Bridge project that got underway last month.The state closed the bridge Dec. 15 in order to make emergency repairs. It is expected to reopen May 15.Concerns centered mainly on traffic backups along the detour route of Ballard, Boston and Summer streets as well as truck traffic and spillover onto side streets along with deteriorating road conditions.Mark Jewell, District 4 Mass. Highway Dept. and Traffic Engineer Raj Kulen represented the state and they pulled no punches.Town Meeting member and Public Works Superintendent Joseph Attubato said he thought Ballard Street would need total resurfacing before the bridge project was through and he didn’t think the town would have to pay for it.Jewell said simply that the state wasn’t going to pay for it either.”That’s our position,” he said. “I’m just being direct and honest with you.”Jewell said it would be a hard sell to convince the state that the potholes along Ballard Street are worse because of the increased traffic due to the bridge project.Maureen Dever, Town Meeting member from Precinct 3, told Jewell she drives the route every day and she thought if the lights were better synchronized things might go smoother.Ballard Street resident Peter Manoogian wanted Kulen to change the timing of the Ballard Street light to 1.5 minutes. Kulen said that would be fine for commuters on Ballard Street but the drivers on Lincoln Avenue wouldn’t be too happy.Dever argued, however, that if the timing were changed on all the lights, Ballard and Lincoln as well as at Winnepurket Street and Austin Square in Lynn the traffic would balance out accordingly. Kulen agreed to tweak the system but didn’t say how long the timing would be extended.Dever also thought traffic details during the high traffic times in the morning and evening would ease things but Jewell said the likelihood of the state paying for details for five months was all but nil.Mike Glionna took issue with tanker and trash trucks using Ballard Street per order of an agreement made with Wheelabrator nearly 20 years ago. With Route 107 closed, however, the company asked for a reprieve, which the town has neither granted nor denied.Jewell, however, pointed out that any truck banning technically can only be done through the highway department.That did not appease Glionna, who essentially called the project unsafe and unfair.”You people didn’t do any thinking before you thought of doing this bridge over,” he shouted.Tom Falasca of Precinct 2 said he is beginning to see the traffic spillover in his neighborhood as people look for alternate routes around the detour.”That’s why the (detour) travel times are getting shorter,” he said.Dever wondered if the town had a plan to deal with a worst case scenario catastrophic incident in the event that one of the many tanker trucks now traveling Ballard Street did crash and burn. Selectman Michael Kelleher, who facilitated the meeting, said he would look into it.And one resident wondered if the tankers and trash trucks could simply be pushed off Route 107 onto Squire Road to Route 1 and Walnut Street.Kulen said you could ask Revere if that was okay but Jewell advised residents not to get their hopes up.All in all Town Manager Andrew Bisignani thought the meeting went well.”I think it’s settled in and people know, it is what it is,” he said.And it is temporary.