Casino traffic plan remakes area roads, intersections

REVERE – Suffolk Downs officials released a $40 million traffic-improvement plan last week aimed at mitigating traffic concerns in neighboring Revere and East Boston that would go into effect if the racetrack won a gaming license to build a casino.The preliminary traffic plan is based on studies by traffic consultants. Its feature proposal is to create a flyover highway on the Boston side of Route 1A, at the Boardman Street intersection, according to a press release sent out Friday by Suffolk Downs spokesman Christian Teja.The plan also proposes working with Revere officials to reconfigure four or five different intersections, according to Suffolk Chief Operating Officer Chip Tuttle, who spoke with The Daily Item on Saturday.View the Suffolk Downs transportation report.”It’s going to be up to the city and Revere residents which of these they’d like us to focus on,” Tuttle said.Among the suggestions in Revere include reconfiguring ramp connections that will shift traffic away from the congested Route 60 and Bell Circle intersection near Route 1A, as well as improve connections to Route 1A.The plan also suggests adding new sidewalks at Route 16 and Harris Street in Revere.Tuttle said Suffolk Downs will hold community meetings to get residents’ input on the plan.The traffic proposal comes two days after Suffolk Downs executives announced a $1 billion plan to expand the track into a resort-style casino on 163 acres.The casino, which would be built in partnership with Caesars Entertainment, first needs a license from the state gaming commission. That is about a year away from being approved or rejected, Tuttle told The Daily Item on Tuesday.On Saturday, Tuttle said Suffolk Downs is willing to go above and beyond mitigating the increase in traffic caused by visitors to the resort and casino.”If we’re fortunate enough to earn a license, we’d look to be a part of a broader solution on some of the more significant regional transportation issues,” he said, adding that the racetrack has been on the East Boston-Revere border for 77 years.”We’ll have as much interest as any local business,” in the improvement of Revere, he said.The traffic plan is a boon to Revere, said Councilor at large Anthony Zambuto, who served with Suffolk Downs and Revere economic officials on a mitigation team that discussed traffic issues regarding the casino.”This project couldn’t be any better for Revere,” he said.Zambuto echoed Tuttle’s comments about the racetrack’s commitment to the city, saying that Suffolk Downs has as much interest as city officials to decongest the roads around the racetrack.”They’re going to do everything to make the traffic situation better than it is now, not worse,” he said.Councilor at large Brian Arrigo sounded a more cautious note. He said that roadway congestion in Revere stretches beyond problem areas such as Bell Circle.”The tunnel to Bell Circle is a mess, but you can make the argument it doesn’t just stop at Bell Circle,” he said. “It goes all the way up and through the city, and the impact of that is felt throughout the city.”At the very least, Arrigo said, he hopes that Suffolk Downs’ traffic projects can spur the state, which owns many of the major roads in Revere, to start their own road-improvement projects in the area.Ward 4 Councilor Stephen Reardon said he’d like to see more discussion about creating a flyover at Bell Circle, not just one on Route 1A in Boston. And he agreed with Arrigo that state-transportation officials should take more initiative to ease traffic on Revere roads.Without state involvement, he said, “I think you’re leaving a big hole in the plan.”Overall, Reardon expressed optimism for Suffolk Downs’ current proposal for both the casino and traffic mitigation.”I think this is our opportunity. I just want to make sure that we make the best of it,” he said.Amber Parcher can be reached at [email protected] a Suffolk Downs-produced video on the proposed traffic improvements.