When Governor Deval Patrick signed the $12.8 billion Transportation Bond bill, he authorized a slate of projects that included $3.57 million in improvement for Lynn and another $4 million for a design and feasibility that will look at the potential for connecting Lynn to Route 1 more directly.
In all five Lynn projects were authorized that touch everything from rail connections, parking improvements to harbor improvements and a pedestrian bridge over Route 1A.
Starting at the beginning, the 2014 Transportation Bond Bill contained $500,000 for a feasibility study to look at utilizing the existing commuter rail lines between Revere and Lynn, as a way of extending the MBTA Blue Line to Lynn Station. Though this project does not count as an immediate construction project, it could potentially hold the key to finally connecting downtown Lynn to downtown Boston via light rail.
For immediate construction projects with the potential to improve Lynn, there is $220,000 to dredge Lynn Harbor, which Lynn EDIC and the city administration have both identified as key parts of the city’s future growth.
The bond bill also contains $1 million for viaduct repairs on Mount Vernon Street and $750,000 for reconstruction of the Wyoma Parking facility located just off Route 129.
Another significant project that is tied to the city’s developing waterfront is the $1 million that was included to design and construct a pedestrian footbridge over Route 1A (the Lynnway) at Blossom Street, connecting the city’s downtown area directly to the new ferry pier and terminal on Blossom Street connection.
However, another key component of establishing a passenger ferry terminal and related business base is a planned traffic improvement that would allow southbound traffic on the Lynnway to cross into the ferry terminal parking lot on Blossom Street as well. The Bond Bill did not appear to have any funding set aside for that project.
Perhaps one of the most interesting projects being funded through the Transportation Bond Bill is the $4 million that was included to design a widening and improvement of Route in Revere, Malden and Saugus, with plans to widen the stretch of Route 1 from Route 60 to the intersection of Route 99.
This project also includes a requirement to study the potential and feasibility of connecting Lynn directly to Route 1, through Revere.