SAUGUS — Thanks to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, Route One will get some improvements.
In a statement, Town Manager Scott C. Crabtree announced that Saugus has been awarded an $800,000 grant through the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC)’s Community Mitigation Fund.
With the Encore Boston Harbor casino increasing traffic on Route One, Saugus officials have been conducting research on where improvements can be made.
“We are grateful for the Massachusetts Gaming Commission’s continued support of our community and its shared vision with the City of Revere to help mitigate traffic and congestion along the town’s most traveled roadway, which will improve safety for the residents and visitors of Saugus,” said Crabtree.
Crabtree said that infrastructure is something that will continue to be a priority for his administration.
“Providing the residents and visitors of Saugus with safe and reliable infrastructure has and will continue to be a top priority of this administration,” said Crabtree. “We look forward to continuing to work together with the Massachusetts Gaming Commission and the City of Revere to make essential roadway improvements along these major arteries that will help alleviate existing traffic and offset anticipated traffic resulting from the increased volume of vehicles visiting the casino.”
While $800,000 might seem like a lot of money on the surface, Crabtree noted that the grant won’t allow for a major reconstruction of Route One. Instead, it will provide more of a first step toward improving the roadway.
“We believe (this first step) will be followed in time by two or more phases to ultimately improve and create a new travel lane on Route One north from Copeland Circle to Route 99,” said Crabtree. “The focus of this phase is from Robin Road in Revere until the Route 99 merge.”
Saugus and Revere will work with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and others to continue with additional improvements to Route One, Crabtree said.
Crabtree said that while it has been difficult to determine if the Everett casino has led to more traffic in areas such as Saugus due to the pandemic, the town has been working to find areas where things can improve.
“Part of what we have been looking at doing is trying to put some preliminary designs that are based on traffic studies that we have done in the past prior to the casino opening and now I think we will have a better gauge of monitoring the increase and impact in traffic,” he said. “I think just with the pandemic everything is sort of upside down with businesses on Route One and with traffic now starting to pick up post-pandemic.”
However, Crabtree is optimistic that improvements to the busy corridor are finally on the way.
