Revere Police Planned Well for Festival Traffic

One of the biggest concerns in advance of the International Sand Sculpting Festival held July 26-28 was the expected high-volume vehicular traffic that had created an inconvenience for visitors and Revere residents alike in previous years.

But thanks to a comprehensive planning effort by Mayor Brian Arrigo, the Revere Police, and the Mass. State Police, traffic flowed well throughout the weekend in the city while the event went off smoothly and safely.

“We put together a plan for this year’s sandcastle event based on the traffic woes that we had last year, which consisted of keeping the traffic flowing on North Shore Road, from Mahoney Circle down to Revere Street – I think the results were very good,” said Guido.

The chief felt a pre-event press conference – at which it was strongly suggested by officials that people use alternate routes to Boston and Logan Airport – also helped decrease traffic near the beach.

“People adhered to the warnings and it made a big difference,” said Guido. “It made the event much more successful. The traffic was slower than normal, but it was flowing. We didn’t have the gridlock we had a year ago.”

Guido said the busiest day of the festival was on Saturday, July 27, especially when the fireworks exhibition was held that night.

He said at least 35 Revere police officers were deployed for traffic during the festival in coordination with a contingent of State Police troopers who also drew commendation for their efforts in making the festival a safe, secure event for the one million visitors to the boulevard.

“I think the residents of Revere were happy with our efforts,” said Guido. “We’ve received all good reviews.”

Ward 5 Councillor John Powers said the control of traffic was much improved from previous years.

“I attribute that to the Revere Police Department having many officers at intersections in the city where traffic could have backed up considerably more,” said Powers. “I know that Chief Guido and Mayor Arrigo worked hard to make sure there was adequate traffic supervision from the Revere Police Department.”

Powers said the festival does bring a lot of traffic in to the city, “however, it also brings a lot of positive recognition to the city.”