After listening to National Development’s presentation last Wednesday (Feb. 27), my first reaction is why are traffic improvements being held hostage to National Development’s fifth attempt at a cinema at MarketStreet?
The MarketStreet traffic mess has existed from the first day it opened. The traffic improvements that National Development and their traffic engineers promised have never materialized.
We were promised the intersection would go from a state rated F to C and it hasn’t happened. Never mind the traffic disaster that exists under the 128 underpass or at Salem and Walnut streets. And now National Development wants a quid pro quo — that is, give us want and we will try to improve the traffic jams. If National Development thinks they have a way to mitigate the traffic they created what are they waiting for?
Also, unfortunately, the “improvements” National proposes are not sufficient. As explained in the Market Street Advisory Committee report, the proposed adaptive signals will be overwhelmed in heavy traffic. There is already heavy traffic and there will be even heavier traffic when the Lahey building is fully occupied.
Let’s try to fix the existing traffic before bringing in waves of cinema traffic. What’s the rush?
Several town officials have advocated for National Development to wait for a year after the Lahey building is fully occupied to judge the traffic impacts before deciding on the viability of a cinema. But despite the good advice of town officials, National Development is plunging forward. Are they afraid of what the traffic reality will be if they wait a year?
Joe DeMaina
Lynnfield
