Submitted by State Rep. Ken Gordon (D-Bedford)
Traffic relief for drivers in Burlington and Bedford is on the way.
The Federal Highway Administration (“FHWA”) has approved a set of short-term improvements to the interchange of Interstate 95/Route 128 and U.S. Route 3 at Exit 32, according to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (“MassDOT”) and Burlington’s legislative delegation.
The FHWA has approved a change order to an existing contract that will re-stripe and widen small strips of MassDOT land alongside the highway. Work is expected to begin by the end of the year along the interstate, with work to the ramps and collector roads to begin in the spring. The improvements will create dedicated lanes with the use of signage, lane striping and lane barriers. These new lanes will separate the traffic exiting and entering I-95 for Route 3 North from the traffic accessing Middlesex Turnpike in Burlington.
Rep. Ken Gordon (D-Bedford), joined by Senator Ken Donnelly (D-Arlington), attracted the attention of MassDOT engineers last December when they hosted a forum on the traffic issues facing Burlington drivers. The forum was attended by some 100 local leaders and residents. The engineers presented various short-term and long-term proposals to address traffic concerns.
Sen. Donnelly and Rep. Gordon followed up on the forum with a letter to Secretary of Transportation Stephanie Pollack on February 4, 2016, urging her to include the improvements developed at the forum in her proposal for change orders to the federal government, and she did so. The change orders were approved in May. The plan will be funded by federal dollars.
“The engineers from MassDOT listened to our concerns,” said Gordon, who sits on the Joint Committee on Transportation. “One of our most challenging and dangerous bottlenecks occurs at that exit,” said Gordon. “The separation of traffic heading toward Lowell on Route 3 from the traffic bound for Burlington will address this pressure point.”
The effect of the highway traffic extends onto the roads of Burlington and Bedford. “These days, most of us use the GPS in our phones or car radios to identify pockets of traffic and get around them,” said Rep. Gordon. “This means that a driver coming south on Route 3, or east on Route 2, can see the traffic on I-95 ahead and leave the highway in Bedford or Burlington, jamming up town roads that were not built for the number of cars traveling on them.”
Rick Parker, a Burlington resident and President of the Burlington Area Chamber of Commerce, is pleased with the development. “This is going to have an immediate impact on the people who live and work in Burlington,” he said. “Burlington’s business community is thriving, bringing employees and shoppers into the town. This provides the revenue needed to pay the town’s bills and protects us from residential tax increases. We need to maintain our ability to retain and attract businesses while reducing the highway traffic blocking access to Burlington, or congesting our streets as they head for other towns. This project will address that problem.”
Burlington’s legislative delegation is pleased with the progress, but reminds us it is just a start. “The real issue here is that we have to reduce the number of cars on the road,” said Sen. Donnelly. “We’ll be taking a good look at ways we can improve access to public transportation and find creative solutions to our transportation challenges.”
One of the solutions may be found in the efforts of the transportation management association of the Middlesex 3 Coalition, which has contracted to provide shuttle services to area businesses to bring their employees to work without the need for individual cars. “Sen. Donnelly and I have been working closely with this group for several years,” said Rep. Gordon. “We all have an interest in a lower-cost, cleaner way to reduce traffic in our area.
Burlington’s legislative delegation will continue to work with MassDOT and the federal government to address longer-term solutions to the region’s traffic issues.
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