Revere officials set for Wonderland plaza construction

REVERE – City officials seemed excited about the design and construction of the new Wonderland station transit plaza and pedestrian bridge at Tuesday night?s immunity meeting at Paul Revere School.?We are very excited about this project,” Mayor Thomas G. Ambrosino said.The project includes building a public plaza coming out of the Wonderland station parking lot on Ocean Avenue (Route 1A) that then turns into a pedestrian bridge that lets pedestrians walk onto Revere Beach.?It is going to provide a seamless and safe pedestrian transition from the parking lot to the beach,” Ambrosino said. “It is a continued rebirth of Revere Beach.”The $20 million stimulus funded TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) grant through the MBTA is enabling the development of the plaza over the train tracks linking the east and west sides of the station, creating a connection between the garage, busway and the development in the Revere Beach area, according to a press release at Mass.gov.The plans are to build the plaza first then the bridge that will take pedestrians over Ocean Avenue.The current plan is for construction on the plaza to begin in December and take a year to complete.?No one likes construction but everyone likes it when it is done,” said Ron Thompson, the superintendent of the project from Arrowstreet Inc. of Somerville. “We are going to try to get done as quick as we can.”Part of Ocean Avenue will be shut down for approximately three months when construction begins on the pedestrian bridge, Thompson said.Councilors at Large John R. Correggio, Anthony T. Zambuto and Ward 4 Councilor Stephen Reardon were at the meeting, but there were only a few other city residents at the meeting.Correggio was curious as to how many jobs this new project will create. Thompson estimated that the project would create about 120 construction jobs.Many of the councilors were excited to see the project begin.?It is unbelievable,” Zambuto said. “This is the future of Revere.”