Thomas M. McGee
As a member of both the MassDOT and MBTA Board of Directors, former Senate chair of the Joint Committee on Transportation, and former mayor of Lynn, I would like to share my perspective and insight on the Broadway safety-improvement project.
When I entered office as the mayor of Lynn, the need for infrastructure improvements across the city was overwhelming. Knowing that the city did not have the funding to undertake these projects, we began prioritizing improvements by the need both in terms of existing road conditions and by crash data.
Essex Street, Western Avenue, and Broadway are areas that ranked highest in the city, and because of their significant needs and crash occurrences, were elevated for state and federal funding opportunities as the most likely to be successful.
The state and the city came up with a plan to address Essex Street and Western Avenue, providing joint funding for these projects through the transportation improvement program (TIP) process. These projects scored at the top of the list for funding, have been approved, and are moving forward.
The Broadway corridor between Euclid Avenue and Jenness Street ranks in the state’s top 200 crash sites and is categorized as a high-crash, accident-prone location. MassDOT viewed Broadway as “necessary to address” and authorized the use of $6 million of highway safety improvement project (HSIP) funding for the improvements at no cost to the city.
Funding for major infrastructure improvements like these is highly competitive. Every year, Lynn receives about $1.5 million in Chapter 90 funding, which is used by the city to try to address the need to cover every road and sidewalk in the city.
The yearly investment to fund the city-wide need far exceeds the state dollars the city receives to upgrade our local roads. The $6 million HSIP funding reflects four years of Chapter 90 money if the city did absolutely nothing else.
The current infrastructure along the Broadway corridor remains a liability to the safety of our community and neighbors.
The anticipated improvements will add amenities that the area is currently lacking; new concrete sidewalks with granite curbing, new pavement, and upgraded signal equipment and striping, all concentrated on reducing vehicular speed, improving accommodations for pedestrians and bicyclists, and increasing ADA accessibility.
These state dollars are needed as the city works to provide a significant decrease in accidents and improved accessibility for all.
This is especially important, as the Road Safety Audit, performed from 2015-2018, noted that this area averages 24 crashes per year. The updated crash data from 2018-2021 showed an increase of 28 crashes per year, with 39 crashes in total in 2019 and 11 injury crashes in 2021.
Both the city and the state have continued to listen to residents and their concerns about the improvements and have ensured that revitalizing infrastructure for this transportation project is needed to address concerns in this heavily-traveled route.
There have been public meetings from 2018 to 2023, with public forums to provide an opportunity to meet with appraisers and city officials and individual meetings to hear from abutters.
During my time as mayor, we were able to reconstruct Liberty Square, obtained Complete Street funding, and utilized MassWorks project funding to improve traffic flow and pedestrian safety at various sites across the city.
There are absolutely temporary impacts when we undertake infrastructure projects in Lynn and working with those impacted by the construction to mitigate the impact is an important step as we work together toward the end result of increased safety for our community.
Taking meaningful steps toward remediating the city’s transportation concerns has been a major priority of Mayor Jared Nicholson’s administration and aligns with the state’s agenda of improving all major crash sites within the region.
Decades of deferred infrastructure investment have created unfortunate risks to public safety, inconvenience to travelers, and barriers to accessibility all over cities throughout the Commonwealth. This Broadway corridor project will allow us to fix one of the most egregious examples in Lynn.
Thomas M. McGee is a member of the MBTA and MassDOT Board of Directors and is a former mayor of Lynn.
