By THOMAS GRILLO
LYNN — The city has received $400,000 to make Lynn’s streets safer.
Issued under “Complete Streets” by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, the program provides money for safe and accessible access to roadways for pedestrians, bicyclists, transit and vehicles.
The construction funding contained in the governor’s new budget will be used to reconstruct sidewalks along South Common Street, a heavily-traveled pedestrian road that connects to a park and six senior citizen housing developments, and making the handicapped ramps Americans with Disabilities Act compliant. It will also fund so-called traffic calming measures on O’Callaghan Way, such as building bump-outs which extend the sidewalk and reduce the pavement width and installing a flashing light to signal a crosswalk.
“The sidewalks out there are in really tough shape and we are budget-challenged to make all the repairs,” said Andrew Hall, commissioner of the Department of Public Works. “It’s a great thing for the city.”
Complete Streets was authorized by the Legislature through the 2014 transportation bond bill. The city council adopted the program a year later and it was subsequently recognized as one of the best in the nation by the Smart Growth America’s National Complete Streets Coalition.
“This program offers much-needed resources to municipalities to address their unique infrastructure needs,” said Sen. Thomas M. McGee (D-Lynn) in a statement.
State Rep. Brendan Crighton (D-Lynn) said the city must continue to improve streets and sidewalks to make sure they are safe and accessible for all.
State Rep. Daniel Cahill (D-Lynn) said there was lots of input and assistance from many stakeholders in the city to ensure that they would secure this grant for much-needed infrastructure improvements.
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Thomas Grillo can be reached at tgrillo@itemlive.com.
