SALEM — Urgency. City and town officials and legislators meeting at the North Shore Coalition uttered the word repeatedly on Friday as they talked at Salem State University’s Enterprise Center about the region’s transportation mess and ways to clean it up.
Representing 18 communities from Hamilton and Manchester by the Sea to Lynn and Swampscott, the Coalition’s goals include prioritizing and addressing regional needs and finding ways to translate them into regional action.
For Lynn Mayor Thomas M. McGee, a long-time transportation reform advocate in his former job as state legislator, action translates into revenue raised through a gas tax hike and what he described Friday as “innovative toll mechanisms.”
He said an overwhelming majority of North Shore residents, and people living in other parts of the state, don’t think Massachusetts’ road, highway, bridge and transit system works.
“For 50-plus years, we have not seen a transportation investment. If we don’t make one, we all suffer. The investment has to happen,” said McGee.
Coalition members include business representatives and owners, including Cranney Companies President Brian Cranney, who said technicians working for his Danvers firm run up “tremendous” overtime expenses from spending time fighting their way through traffic as they crisscross the North Shore on the way to plumbing and electrical installation jobs.
Great Lynn Chamber of Commerce Executive Colin Codner said arriving late to work due to traffic backups “are almost daily events” for North Shore workers.
State Sen. Brendan Crighton said elected officials and commuters know the challenges involved in getting from the North Shore to Boston by car or commuter rail. The time for finding ways to pay for improvements is past due.
“We need to make a strong case for increased revenue for transportation. There is a great urgency on this,” Crighton said.
State Reps. Peter Capano and Lori Ehrlich said there is no single option for making access to Boston easier from the North Shore. Like McGee and Crighton, they said the economic link to Boston that strengthens the North Shore’s economy is tied directly to transportation.
“We’ve got to hear options to get access to better-paying jobs in Boston,” Capano said.
State Rep. Dan Cahill said his constituents are also frustrated about gridlock on many North Shore roads. The Coalition’s broad-ranging goals for transportation improvements are focused on better-managing North Shore transportation networks while, in the words of Beverly Mayor Michael Cahill (no relation), “not hindering the economy.”
The group is looking ahead 25 years to improvements encompassing ideas such as full electrification of the currently diesel-powered commuter rail lines.
“That’s the kind of thing that will get people out of their cars and onto trains,” he said.
State Rep. Ted Speliotis also attended Friday’s forum.
