The city’s planning and community development department, along with Ward 5 City Councillor Angela Guarino-Sawaya, hosted a community meeting on the Route 1A South roadway improvements at the Point of Pines Fire Station last week.
The work includes the construction of a new roundabout that will provide access to Gibson Park, which will also see construction upgrades take place in the near future.
Representatives from the project’s design firm and contractor provided an overview of the work schedule for the phases of the project, as well as potential overnight detours.
While the majority of the work, which should be completed in late 2027, will take place during daytime hours, officials said there will be some ramp closures and detours for overnight work. They stated the overnight work will comprise about 10 percent of the project.
Revere Planning and Community Development Director Tom Skwierawski said residents will be alerted about a month ahead of time of any planned overnight closures and detours.
During the meeting, residents did raise some concerns about construction noise, pedestrian safety, and access to Gibson Park during the length of the project.
The overall limit of the project includes the southbound off and onramp and the intersection of the ramps with the Lynnway, said Christina Mollicone of design consultant Howard Stein Hudson. She said no work is proposed on the 1A bridge over the ramps.
“The first phase of construction includes the construction of the new on-ramp, ramp B, the demolition of the slip lane from the Lynnway, and the construction of the northern portion of the roundabout,” said Mollicone. “This is Phase 1A and it will last about 32 weeks.”
The second part of the first phase is scheduled to take three weeks and includes the demolition of the partial median on the existing ramps and sidewalk construction on the Lynnway.
The second phase of the project includes the construction of the new offramp, ramp A, and the construction of a shared use path from the Lynnway along the roundabout area, with an estimated length of 31 weeks.
Phase 3 of the project includes the construction of the leg of the roundabout to Gibson Point, the demolition of the existing offramp, and the construction of the median/splitter island for the roundabout. Mollicone said that phase should take 13 weeks.
“Phase 4 includes the construction of the inner circle of the roundabout and the driveway reconstruction at the Gibson Point access from Rte. 1A,” Mollicone said. “This stage will last about four weeks.”
The final phase of construction will be split into two parts and will include the sidewalk construction to Gibson Park and the sidewalk construction under the bridge, and is estimated at seven weeks.
“The major impacts to traffic will include off and onramp closures,” said Mollicone. “The closures will be limited to overnight durations between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m., and we’ll include signage for the detours as approved by MassDOT.
Construction officials said the overnight work with detours and ramp closures will be limited to connection work that cannot be safely completed during regular daytime work hours. All detours and ramp closures will be alerted on Mass511 and City of Revere 311 prior to implementation.
“The detour for the onramp closure will guide people with vehicles onto Rte. 1A northbound into Lynn and a u-turn at Harding Street, and then you will continue onto Rte. 1A southbound,” Mollicone said. “The detour for the offramp closure will keep you on Rte. 1A southbound, turn right at Archer Ave., left on Mills Ave., and then continue left onto Rte. 1A northbound, and then the vehicles will be able to use the existing offramp to access the Lynnway.”
Skwierawski said the roundabout and traffic improvements should improve safety operations at the offramp and improve access to Gibson Park and minimize impact to the Riverside neighborhood.
He noted that the planned roundabout will be smaller and safer than some of the larger rotaries, such as the one at Bell Circle, that can be hard to maneuver.
“I know roundabouts are not everybody’s favorite topic, and I suspect that’s because we have three of the worst, in my opinion, rotaries in the state,” Skwierawski said. “A rotary is very different than a roundabout. Bell Circle, Copeland Circle, all the circles, they are awful. That’s not what this is; you could fit five of these roundabouts within Bell Circle.
“It’s much tinier in the grand scheme of things; I understand why people make that connection, but roundabouts like this do slow speeds and you really do have a condition where traffic is slowing coming off the offramp as opposed to today, where people are really streaming through, hitting that slip lane, and speeding down the Lynnway.”
