Lynn neighbors: Broadway project worth disruption

LYNN – Margaret Leccese has lived on Broadway for 10 years and said she is willing to endure disruptions of a major road construction project planned for next summer through 2014, if it makes the busy thoroughfare and its sidewalks safer.Leccese and her husband, Tom, on Wednesday estimated they have witnessed as many as eight accidents in front of their home opposite Flax Pond Condominiums, caused by drivers making a U-turn at the traffic median.”It’s a tough street: It is very dangerous,” she said.State and local officials confirmed last Friday they have almost completed plans to spend $5.5 million in federal tax money on resurfacing Broadway from Wyoma Square to Boston Street at Flax Pond. City Public Works Commissioner Manuel Alcantara said the work is scheduled to start next summer and take 18 months to complete.Alcantara said the work includes traffic-flow improvements in Wyoma Square, and signal improvements at Magnolia Avenue and next to the Broadway fire station near the Leccese’s home.The couple’s neighbor, Elmer Snow, said sidewalk work along Broadway is overdue. Part of the concrete walkway in front of his home is patched with asphalt and Tom Leccese said uneven sidewalk sections contributed to pedestrian falls.”We’ve been asking for new sidewalks for a long time,” Leccese said.Alcantara said city officials plan to hold a public meeting to discuss the Broadway work on July 25 at 6:30 p.m. in the police station community room on Washington Street. Broadway resident Mary Beth Bloom plans to attend the meeting and take a careful look at plans for reconstructing sidewalks along the street.”My concern is that they are taking away some of the sidewalk – herds of kids walk up the street to school,” she said.Bloom said her family has lived on the street for 20 years and she said any attempt to widen Broadway’s traffic lanes could add to the amount of snow plowed into her driveway during storms. She said she tries to keep the sidewalk safe for children walking to and from schools by clearing away snow.Snow said drivers speeding along Broadway are responsible for accidents in front of his home and said the volume of traffic traveling Broadway underscores the need for major roadwork.”It will be an inconvenience but it’s a gateway to the city,” he said.Steve Quigley has lived on Broadway all of his life and seen the road resurfaced, and new traffic signals and underground drain pipes installed. He plans to attend the July 25 meeting and listen to explanations regarding sidewalk reconstruction.”It needs to get done in the summer when the kids are out of school,” Quigley said.Margaret Leccese hopes the reconstruction work will slow down drivers and reduce the accident rate in front of her home.”We’ve been waiting for it for a long, long time,” she said.Thor Jourgensen can be reached at [email protected] a map of the scheduled repairs.View Lynnfield Street repairs in a larger map