Traffic Mitigation

The thought of a Boardman Street Passover to make transiting into and out of East Boston an easier thing than it is today is a good beginning for the folks from Suffolk Downs who hope to be running a casino there in the years to come.

It is also a good thing for East Boston residents swallowed up by the north-south traffic flow on the McClellan Highway at rush hour everyday and when the airport disgorges itself of many, many flights at one time.

Also mentioned by the Suffolk people are traffic mitigation bits and pieces that go all the way back to Bell Circle in Revere, where the bottlenecks there leading to the bottled up McLellan Highway have been in existence that way for almost 50 years without an ounce of interest by Mass Highways to bring the traffic under control.

Mind you, the Suffolk Downs people said they will spend $40 – $50 million just to begin to allay the fears of local residents as well as to be proactive in reducing traffic – which no entity – city or state has been willing or able financially to do.

This is one more reason for East Boston and Revere residents to think carefully about the possibility of a casino at Suffolk Downs.

The traffic mitigation feature is but a small part of what might well prove to be the greatest economic upsurge in this neighborhood’s long history.

With the construction jobs and nearly $1 billion of capital improvements to be paid for and permanent jobs to follow also in the mix, the casino is a major economic development and boost to the local economy.

The casino will bring more traffic but the traffic mitigation will provide for that added traffic to be mitigated as well as bringing some semblance of better movement to the traffic that already exists.

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