Wyoma Square road work to resume mid-April

LYNN – Rolly Hayes knows road work poised to start in April will disrupt Wyoma Square traffic, but the Rolly?s Tavern on the Square owner said he is fed up with big trucks rumbling over the uneven roadway in front of his business with enough force to pop light bulbs.?It?s going to be painful, but it definitely needs to be done,” Hayes said.Beginning in mid-April, workers with Melrose-based D & R General Contracting will return to Broadway and Wyoma Square to rebuild roadbeds, sidewalks and curbs from Boston Street through the square to Cowdrey Avenue and Bacheller Street.The work will last through fall, and the most noticeable part for people who drive through the square and live and work in it will be Broadway and Lynnfield Street?s reconstruction from Magnolia Avenue to Cowdrey Avenue.City Public Works Commissioner Andrew Hall said the work involves tearing away the roadbed and digging down 20 inches to build a new road foundation with a new roadway on top of it.This “full depth” reconstruction will start in the summer with work done mostly at night, Hall said. Drivers will be able to drive through the construction zone during the day.?This will impact people?s travels,” Hall said.Hall does not know exactly how long it will take D & R?s crews to finish the full depth work, but he said it will begin after workers, starting in mid-April, install new traffic signals and do other work along Broadway.The contractor ripped out sidewalks and built new sidewalks and curbs on Broadway from Boston Street to Magnolia last year. The rest of the work planned for Broadway and Wyoma Square will be done this year with some landscaping work planned for 2016, Hall said.He said the $4 million project paid for mostly with state tax dollars has several objectives: The corner at Broadway and Magnolia will be altered to make a much wider turn for drivers taking a right onto Magnolia.?You?re going to be driving on what is now Equitable Bank?s front lawn to take that right,” he said.The corner of Broadway at Lynnfield Street will be widened to ease turns onto Lynnfield and two lanes will stretch for 150 feet on Parkland Avenue to ease turns into Wyoma Square from Parkland.Probably the biggest change, Hall said, will be on Broadway traveling south from Wyoma Square to Boston and Chestnut streets where traffic lanes will be reconfigured to end the lane-shifting “free for all” drivers engage in as they jockey for position to continue straight on Chestnut or position themselves to take a right onto Boston.?There will be two solid travel lanes and a parking lane,” Hall said.Hall acknowledged about a half dozen parking spaces will be eliminated along the project?s length to make it easier for drivers to see pedestrians in crosswalks.Wyoma Square True Value owner Tim Tenney said he will be happy to see new, smooth roadways run through the square.?It has to be done – this road is terrible,” he said.Tenney and Hayes both praise D & R for minimizing business disruptions during last year?s construction.?I was thoroughly surprised how little it impacted traffic through the square,” Hayes said.Hall said work crews during the summer and fall will also strip away Broadway?s road surface between Magnolia and Boston Street and lay down a new road bed. They will also build new curbs and sidewalks along Lynnfield Street and Broadway up to Cowdrey Avenue and Bacheller Street.?It?s going to be nice when it?s done,” he said.