Lynn to begin Broad-Lewis street paving project

LYNN – A massive paving project that will run up Broad Street and eventually into Lewis Street all the way to the Swampscott line will get underway Monday.”We’ll be doing Broad Street at Washington, Lewis Street and New Ocean,” said Public Works acting Superintendent Manuel Alcantara. “It will cost about $370,000.”Alcantara said National Grid will foot about $190,000 of the bill and the rest will be paid for through Chapter 90 money. Chapter 90 funding is state aid earmarked specifically for road projects.Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy said the contractor handling the work is D&R Contractors, and that homeowners, residents and business owners as well as vehicular traffic will be surely affected by the project. She also said parking restrictions and interruptions could occur at any time from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. during the project, which Alcantara said will likely take eight to 10 weeks to finish.”D&R has coordinated a timeframe outline for paving on Broad Street,” Kennedy said in a prepared statement. “We are attempting to complete the project as quickly as possible.”The entire project will include grinding the street, repaving and striping, said Alcantara. Work won’t start near the Brickett School until June 28, which is after school closes for the summer, he added.The Broad/Lewis street project is not the only paving project Alcantara has planned for the summer, however, he said his list has been curtailed since Gov. Deval Patrick cut short the amount of money authorized for Chapter 90 funding. Patrick approved $300 million in Ch. 90 funding but only released half that amount. Sen. Thomas McGee said there is nothing to prevent Patrick from authorizing the rest of the funding later in the year but that will be too late for summer paving projects.Alcantara said he had about 20 projects he hoped to complete this summer but that number has been trimmed to somewhere between 10 and 15 depending on how long funding lasts.”The city was just notified that it will get $1,118,180,” he said. “That’s half of what we thought we were getting.”The streets he still plans to pave include Den Quarry Road, Rollin Avenue and Rollin Terrace, Suffolk Street and Suffolk Court, and Deer Park, along with Broad and Lewis streets.”And we’ll see what else we can do,” he added.View a map of the repaving schedule in Lynn. Click on each road for more information.View Summer paving work in downtown Lynn in a larger mapChris Stevens can be reached at [email protected].