LYNN — The city has received a $9.6 million federal grant to improve dangerous roadways and intersections.
The award is a chunk of the $25 million distributed to the MBTA and municipalities across the Commonwealth through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Safe Streets and Roads for All program. The city was one of only 354 communities throughout the country to share in more than $1 billion in grants announced through the program last week.
The funding will be used to make safety improvements along 17 miles of the city’s high-injury network, which is characterized by high speeds, frequent crashes, poor nighttime visibility, outdated signal infrastructure, and few safe pedestrian crossings, according to the mayor’s office.
“We are incredibly grateful to receive this funding from our partners in Washington,” said Mayor Jared C. Nicholson. “This grant will allow us to make evidence-driven, data-supported changes to these roadways to make them safer.”
Nicholson said in a city of more than 100,000 people, it is unacceptable to average three car-accident fatalities per year.
“To see a transformative investment like this helps us remake our roadways in ways that support our broader goals as an administration of inclusive growth,” the mayor said.
Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll emphasized the importance of all levels of government working together to get the funding distributed.
“We’re really proud of how aggressive we’ve been going after federal dollars,” she said. “Think about it. Something called Safe Streets for All – Who can really be against that? Especially when you’re talking about resources that are going to prevent fatalities and improve local intersections.”
U.S. Deputy Secretary of Transportation Polly Trottenberg said the program was designed to get improvements completed quickly. She added that the program has also distributed funds to rural areas that do not typically receive transportation grants.
“We are proud to have found a formula that works for a large federal program that is helping solve a national safety problem by working at the local level, in partnership with local leaders and community members,” Trottenberg said.
City Planner Aaron Clausen led the City’s efforts in completing the grant application, with the Mass. Department of Transportation (MassDOT) providing planning and financial support.
“This is taking a systemic approach to improving safety on the roads across the City,” Clausen said. “There has been a lot of planning work, benefiting from community input, to establish a comprehensive approach to a very real safety problem.”
The funding will be used to reconstruct four high-crash, high-risk intersections — Summer and South streets; Liberty and Washington streets; Boston and Hamilton streets; and Broad, Silsbee, and Newhall streets. Improvements will include new lighting, curb extensions, rapid flashing beacons, raised crosswalks, speed humps, school-zone lighting, street lighting, protected left turns, and signal modernization.
The grant was informed by extensive planning work carried out by Lynn’s Planning Department in collaboration with MassDOT. The Safe Streets for People Playbook completed in 2022 engaged the community to identify priority corridors and strategies to improve safety for vulnerable roadway users. The Safety Action Plan builds off the playbook and establishes a Vision Zero Goal to eliminate series injuries and fatalities on Lynn’s streets.
The city will have five years to implement the grant funding, Clausen said.
U.S. Rep Seth Moulton emphasized the importance of the work the city will do through the grant by telling a story about a young girl in Andover who was run over by a truck on a crosswalk in front of her family, despite having a walk signal.
“Think about crossing the street with your daughter with a walk signal, and it’s not good enough, because our streets are not safe,” he said. “We have to do a lot more here at home in Massachusetts and across the country to make sure that the simplest act, like crossing the street with a walk signal, is safe for our community.”
“This funding will save lives throughout the City,” said Sen. Brendan Crighton, chair of the state legislature’s Joint Committee on Transportation. “These federal dollars are critically important to addressing our transportation infrastructure needs and making vital improvements.”
