MassHighway may take homes to build 93/128 interchange
Published on November 14th, 2001
STONEHAM, MA - MassHighway may take Stoneham homes to make room for a reconstructed interchange at the 93/128 cloverleaf.
The project, still in the conceptual stage, will bring ridiculous traffic tie-ups to Stoneham, and the end result will place residents living near the highways even closer. But the interchange is one of the busiest and most dangerous in the state, according to Mass-Highway Public Affairs chief Doug Cope.
The project is going to happen. Neighbors want to be involved.
“If we don’t stay on top of it, MassHighway will just do whatever they want,” said Concord Road resident Robert Medeiros.
Medeiros and Crosby Street resident Paul Tuccelli spoke to Stoneham Selectmen last Tuesday night. Medeiros and Tuccelli had attended the first public hearing on the project, on Oct. 23 in Woburn, but no Stoneham town officials or state legislators were present. Selectmen fired off a letter to the town’s legislative team Wednesday.
“The legislators will be most effective,” Selectmen Chair-man Tony Kennedy said. “They (MassHighway) aren’t going to listen to us.”
Representative Carol Donovan (D-30th Middlesex, including the relevant Stoneham neighborhood as of next November) will work with the community “to mitigate the effects of the project,” according to her aide KD Mernin. Donovan was at the October meeting per request of her Woburn constituents.
Stoneham’s state senator, Richard Tisei (R-3rd Middlesex), cosigned a letter written by Rep. Brad Jones (R-21st Middlesex) and sent to MassHighway Commissioner Matthew Amorello on Oct. 30; the legislators requested advance notice of any future hearings.
“A lot of people are upset that no one notified the abutters,” Medeiros said.
“We will publish notices and advertisements in the paper,” Cope said.
Stoneham’s state legislators will be at the Nov. 20 Selectmen’s meeting to discuss the project.
Also, Woburn residents are trying to form a tri-community committee to keep track of the project and voice neighborhood concerns. Don Borchelt of Park Street has been named as the Stoneham representative. (Park Street is not near the interchange, but Borchelt was the only Stoneham resident to attend the Woburn group’s first meeting.)
MassHighway plans to hold the next formal hearing on the project in early spring at which time the design options will be narrowed to two. State engineers are considering distributor roads and elevated ramps among their options.
Six months after the spring meeting one last public hearing will announce the final design. Then the work will have to fit into the state’s construction schedule. Nothing will be built for at least a year, but it is unclear how much time will pass after that before work begins.
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