Council Updated on Revere St. Reconstruction

By Adam Swift

Design consultants updated the Town Council on the long-awaited Revere Street reconstruction project at Tuesday night’s council meeting.

The estimated $6.4 million construction costs are being funded through the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and the project is expected to go out to bid by June of next year, according to Andrew Valcovic of CHA Consultants.

Planning for the project originally got underway almost a decade ago in 2013, according to Valcovic. Initially, the state was looking at funding reconstruction of a one-mile stretch of Revere Street before city and state officials pared the project down to about a half mile of Revere Street from the intersection of Revere, Main, and Winthrop streets to the intersection of Highland and Crest avenues and Revere Street. The project includes the reconstruction of both of those intersections with improved traffic signals.

“There are about 15,000 cars per day on Revere Street, vehicle speeds between 25 and 30 miles per hour … the land use is primarily residential, you have the Winthrop Housing Authority on one side of the road for a good portion and you have some neighborhoods on the east side of the road,” said Valcovic. 

The stretch of road also includes some small businesses and restaurants and an elementary school, he added.

“The project is being funded through the Massachusetts transportation department Transportation Improvement Program, called the TIP, and it is on the TIP for $6.4 million for Fiscal Year 2023,” said Valcovic. 

The town of Winthrop is responsible for funding the design of the project, as well as the right of way acquisitions and securing any permits that are required.

Because MassDOT is administering the design process, Valcovic said the project has to be designed to meet its standards to the maximum extent that is possible.

“This criteria includes particular bicycle and pedestrian accommodations,” he said. “The thing nowadays is every road has to have bike lanes and sidewalks on both sides of the road. If you can’t do that, you have to tell them why you can’t do that and prove why if you are going to use their funding.”

One of the major goals of the project is to improve safety and accommodation for all roadway users, including drivers, buses, bicyclists, and pedestrians.

“We’re going to be trying to address traffic congestion, the main areas we have noticed are McGee’s Corner, the Revere Street at Crest Avenue intersection, and the area of Kennedy Drive, we notice some congestion during school drop off and pick up hours,” Valcovic said. “We’ll be looking to make some infrastructure upgrades, addressing poor pavement and sidewalk conditions. The stormwater drainage system is old out there and needs to be replaced, and the traffic signal equipment as well is outdated and doesn’t meet current standards.”

There will be full-depth roadway pavement reconstruction which includes ripping up all the pavement down to the gravel and paving a new seven inches of asphalt. There will also be the addition of bike lanes and the reconstruction of the sidewalks along the Revere Street corridor.

“We’re going to be looking overall to create a more friendly and comfortable pedestrian environment by reducing crosswalk crossing distances and just making some improvements at some of these intersections,” Valcovic said.

Valcovic added that the designers are working with the MBTA to coordinate some shifting of the existing bus stops along the route.

If all goes according to schedule with the project going out to bid in June of 2023, Valcovic said work would begin in 2024 and stretch through two construction seasons, wrapping up in the fall of 2025.

Some council concerns included the loss of 11 public parking spaces, about half of those along the stretch, due to the project, the phasing of the project with surrounding work to minimize traffic headaches, and the impact of relocating some of the bus stops along the roadway.

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