Confusion reigned at the Revere Traffic Commission’s regular monthly meeting last Thursday regarding the controversial proposal by HYM, the developer of Suffolk Downs, to make Harris St. a one-way roadway (in the direction away from Winthrop Ave.) in order to alleviate the dual problems of cut-through traffic through the Harris St. neighborhood and traffic congestion caused by the five-way intersection where Harris St. meets the Revere Beach Parkway at Winthrop Ave. The eventual vote by the Traffic Commission to deviate from the item that appeared on the public agenda (which proposed making Harris St. one-way for its entire length) in favor of making Harris St. one-way only from Winthrop Ave. to Sewall St. led one member of the audience to suggest that ihe commission may have violated the Open Meeting Law. The proposal to make Harris St. one-way away from Winthrop Ave. is a small but important piece of the overall reconfiguration of the entire intersection that will feature the creation of a double left turn lane for traffic coming from Bell Circle that is headed toward Suffolk Downs, Beachmont, Winthrop, and East Boston. Motorists who wish to proceed from Bell Circle to those destinations either must use Harris Ave. as a cut-through (via Beach Ave. at Bell Circle) or proceed about a quarter of a mile westbound down the Parkway to a U-turn light in order to reverse direction. The changes at the Harris St.-Winthrop Ave.-Parkway intersection is part of a larger overall project to reconfigure Bell Circle, which long has been among the most treacherous rotary-style intersections in the entire state, and also includes safety improvements at the end of Harris St. where it meets the American Legion Highway near Revere High School. When HYM first came before the Traffic Commission some months ago, it proposed making Harris St. one-way only from Winthrop Ave. to Sewall St. However, that plan was met with fierce opposition from the residents of the neighborhood, who suggested that it would redirect traffic onto the adjacent side-streets. HYM withdrew that proposal and came back with a new plan, which it presented to the Traffic Commission in the late fall, in which it proposed making Harris St. one-way for its entire length from Winthrop Ave. to Beach Ave. The plan also called for making a portion of Sewall St. (between Harris and Bixby Sts.) one-way. The Traffic Commission was supposed to take a vote on the new proposal at its January meeting, but it was announced at that time that “additional information would be forthcoming from the engineers.” A final vote was continued until this month. The actual language of the item on the agenda for last week’s meeting was as follows: “Continued discussion regarding traffic improvements for the Suffolk Downs development in Revere. The following pedestrian and traffic safety improvements will be discussed and voted on: “The length of Harris Street between Winthrop Avenue and Beach Avenue will be converted from two-way to one-way Northbound, and a single block of Sewall Street from Harris Street to Bixby Street will be converted from two-way to one-way Westbound. These changes are proposed to improve signalized intersection operations and reduce neighborhood traffic (Amend Schedule V of Title 10, One Way Streets). The Suffolk Downs development proponent will be installing traffic control signage, deriving from the improvements, at the Harris/Sewall, Harris/Butler, Harris/Beach, and Harris/Eustis intersections and provide the City of Revere an allowance, to be used at the City’s discretion, for potential future traffic improvements in the area.” Ian McKinnon, an engineer with Hudson Stein Hudson, a traffic engineering firm that has been hired by HYM, explained to the commission the goals of the improvements to the intersection, which he said will be of benefit not only to the residents of the Harris St. neighborhood, but also for the entire Revere community. “This is a five-way intersection that suffers from severe congestion and is unsafe,” said McKinnon. “There also is no left-hand turn for motorists coming from Bell Circle onto the Revere Beach Parkway, which means that they have to use Harris St. in order to do so.” McKinnon noted that the reconfiguration of the Winthrop Ave.-Parkway intersection is just the first phase of a larger plan for reconfiguring traffic in the Bell Circle area. There will be another round of improvements directed toward the Beach St.-Bell Circle interchange will feature the addition of a “slip lane” approaching Bell Circle that will enhance safety and simplify the intersection. The full cost of the improvements is $7 million. Tom Skwierawski, Revere’s Chief of Planning and Community Development, spoke in favor of the proposal. “The city is in favor of this project,” Skwierawski said. “This will improve the signalization at the intersection and be of benefit to the residents of the neighborhood. This is just one step of a broader process that we will have to tweak as time goes along, though this is not a silver bullet to our city’s traffic problems.” He suggested a six-month trial period for the plan to give city officials and residents an opportunity to see how it goes and then come back to the Traffic Commission with further suggestions, if any. In response to a question from Acting Traffic Commission Chair Frank Stringi, who is the Revere City Planner, McKinnon said that about 2500 vehicles presently use Harris St. from Monday-Friday, but wth the implementation of the proposal, about 1500 vehicles will be diverted everyday onto the Parkway. He said the remaining 1000 daily users are neighborhood residents. Among the opponents was Christine Robertson, a Charger St. resident, who expressed her view that the changes are designed only to benefit HYM’s Suffolk Downs project. “Our infrastructure is so inundated with traffic now, it is insane,” said Robertson, who made note of the traffic congestion problems she confronts on a daily basis in her neighborhood. “This project will only benefit your project, but you do not live here.” Skwierawski replied to Robertson’s concerns. “This project has undergone a rigorous review before MEPA, the state, Mass DOT, city officials, DCR, and a city advisory board comprised of citizens and business members of the Revere community,” he said “The idea behind this project is for regional traffic to stay on regional roads and to be taken off the local roads.” Harris St. resident Zach Babbo, who is the city’s Parking Director, discussed the existing back-ups on Beach St. during the evening commute and wanted to know when the proposed changes will be happening. He also noted that area residents will be forced to travel on adjacent roads in the neighborhood, increasing traffic on those streets. Finally, he said, “Things are not as bad as they make it sound in terms of the volume of traffic. The real problems are speeding and people ignoring the stop signs.” McKinnon said that the time frame for the first phase of the overall project is for work to begin in the middle of this year, with a completion date in 2025. The next phase, which will address Bell Circle directly, will come thereafter. “The new proposal is better than the prior one,” said Cindy Evans of Butler St., “but I still have concerns, particularly regarding the one-way for a portion of Sewall. In addition, Harris St. already is like the Indy 500 and will become even worse if it’s one-way.” Evans suggested that speed bumps be placed on Harris St. in order to slow down traffic. It was at that point in the hearing that Stringi said the commission was considering making Harris St. one-way only between Winthrop Ave. and Sewall St. The plan presented by HYM then came up on the screen, showing Harris St. configured as one-way only up to Sewall St. The sudden U-turn caused a minor uproar among those in attendance. “I am totally confused,” said Washington St. resident Ralph DeCicco (who was at the meeting in his capacity as the chair of the city’s Commission on Disabilities), echoing the sentiments of the residents in attendance. “This went out for a public hearing to make Harris St. one-way for its entire length, but now we’re being told it’s something different. People are being misinformed and that’s why people are getting ticked off.” In response, Stringi said that the commissioners had been discussing what is best for the neighborhood and that whether to return to the original proposal of making Harris St. one-way only up to Sewall St. would be taken up in the form of a motion to amend what was on the agenda. “I’m very disappointed in this commission,” said Ed Terrell, a Sewall St. resident. “You publicly say one thing on the agenda, but we walk into a meeting and get another thing, which probably is a violation of the Open Meeting Law. We have had no help with traffic enforcement in our neighborhood. Children are going to get killed because cars go through the intersections at high speeds.” Evans also returned to the podium to express her disappointment with the commission’s reversal from the proposal as stated on the agenda, which she had supported. “The impact on Butler St. will be horrific,” she said. “This is just a big mistake.” Denise Sena, the Director of Transportation for the Revere schools, said the project will require a lot of changes to bus schedules. “We use Harris St. as a cut-through to get to the Garfield and Beachmont schools. We’re thinking we may have to avoid Harris St. altogether and it may require more buses and money, which the School Dept. will have to discuss.” Doug Manz from HYM also spoke briefly. “The state has made very little investment in your roads over the past 20 years and we are making a substantial investment here,” said Manz, who noted that this has been a public process that has been in the works for two years. He added that HYM will be providing up to $35,000 to the city in order to assist with the implementation of the new roadway configurations. The commissioners then offered their views on the proposal. “I have been a Traffic Commissioner for three months,” said Don Ciaramella, the city’s new DPW Director. “I came into this with an open mind and had some concerns, but after seeing the improvements it will make to the traffic back-up on Beach St., this will be huge for this area. I now have a better feeling for this project. I myself have used Harris St. as a cut-through with my city truck en route to Suffolk Downs, but the two left turn lanes off Route 16 will make a huge difference.” However, Ciaramella cautioned that the ongoing water main replacement project, which involved the installation of two miles of new pipe within the 18 streets in that area, will have a big effect on residents and he urged coordination with the HYM project. Commissioner and City Engineer Nicholas Rystrom noted that eliminating the five-way intersection “will be a big improvement. The two left-turn lanes from Bell Circle will also be a huge improvement, and the improvements at Bell Circle that will follow also will be very important. There will be some amount of growing pains because there will have to be a change in driving habits for regional traffic. It will take a little bit of time for the traffic to become only local.” The board — Stringi, Rystrom, Ciaramella, and Fire Chief Chris Bright — then voted unanimously to amend the proposal from what had been stated on the agenda to instead make Harris St. one-way only from Winthrop Ave. to Sewall St. and to keep Sewall St. two-way for its entire length for a 90-day pilot period. The commission also voted to eliminate all parking on both sides of Sewall St. between Harris and Bixby Sts. In other matters, the commission approved a request to establish Hancock Street as a one-way heading towards Mountain Avenue after newly-elected Ward 4 Councillor Paul Argenzio told the commissioners that he had spoken to the residents of Hancock St. and that they were in favor of the change. The commission tabled until its next meeting a proposal to install new stop signs at the following locations: Harris St. Northbound traffic at Sewall St.; Blakey St. Northbound traffic at Constitution Ave.; and Cooledge St. Southbound traffic at Constitution Ave. after Rystrom suggested that stop signs also would have to be placed on the opposite sides of the proposed stop signs. DeCicco, as chair of the Commission on Disabilities, presented requests for two new handicapped parking spaces at 164 Orvis Rd. and 54 Carlson Ave. The commission voted to move both requests to a public hearing for its next meeting in March.
