MBTA announces Revere road construction detours

REVERE – According to a traffic plan released by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority last week, Ocean Avenue will remain partially open during construction of a footbridge at the Wonderland train station.”A plan has been approved,” confirmed Fire Chief Gene Doherty. “It’s not exactly what we wanted but it will keep Ocean Avenue open at least in part.”Read the MBTA advisory.According to the MBTA, starting Oct. 1 Revere Beach Boulevard will become a two-way street between Chester Avenue and the State Police Barracks. Vehicles will be allowed to travel southbound on Ocean Avenue to the State Police Barracks where traffic will be diverted onto Revere Beach Boulevard. Barriers will be erected to help delineate the traffic pattern.Northbound traffic will be allowed on Ocean Avenue as far as Chester Street where it will, again, be routed up onto Revere Beach Boulevard.”People will have to go slower and get used to it,” Doherty said. “But there will be message boards and signage.”Doherty said he expects there will be traffic details for the first few days at least while commuters get used to the change. The detour is expected to last, “on the outside two months, on the inside, five to six weeks,” he said.Doherty said the plan will also accommodate school buses and since trucks aren’t typically allowed on Revere Beach Boulevard anyway, that shouldn’t be a problem.The MBTA commuter parking lots on Ocean Avenue will remain open during the construction, Doherty said however, according to MBTA officials bus route 411 will be detoured off Ocean Avenue. Buses traveling from the Jack Satter House inbound toward Malden center will take a right onto Revere Street, left onto North Shore Road servicing the bus-way at Wonderland Station. Buses will then continue south on North Shore Road and will take a right onto Beach Street.Jack Satter House resident Bill Bell said he didn’t think the plan was ideal but “it’s better than nothing. It’s better than closing down Ocean Avenue completely.”Bell said he would like to have seen Revere Beach Boulevard opened completely to two-way traffic from Revere Street to the traffic circle at the Winthrop Parkway.”That makes sense,” he said.Work has already started on the bridge with workers installing foundations and abutments. The final phase includes bringing in the actually footbridge itself.”Originally this was to start on [Sept.] 17th and go two months,” Doherty said. “Now it will start Oct. 1 and on the outside go two months.”Chris Stevens can be reached at [email protected] a map of the area. Click on the lines for more information.View Ocean Ave work in a larger map