Officials press on to repair Route 1

SAUGUS – Local officials are pressuring the state to get moving on relieving Copeland Circle traffic jams.The state approved the $10 million in July 2012, but have yet to move forward with the Route 1 Transportation Improvement Project. In a joint letter to the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization, Saugus Town Manager Scott Crabtree, Mayor Dan Rizzo of Revere and Gary Christenson of Malden asked for the updates to the southern end of Route 1 from Copeland Circle to the junction at Route 99 to be made a priority. Crabtree said though the money was authorized, the state still had to allot the funding.The three noted that improvements could improve traffic flow that would lead to better air quality for more than their districts, but “every community from Chelsea to the New Hampshire border,” which they estimated to be about 20 percent of the state?s residency.?The roadway is now unsafe, overburdened and a major barrier to the development goals of many, if not most, of those same communities,” read the letter, dated Dec. 10.The letter called for an accelerated design plan that would move the project forward.Crabtree added that the improvements, once the project is completed in 2017, could aid in Saugus? own economic development plans.