State roads are damaged but DOT has its hands full
Herald readers are looking for road relief under President Trump’s proposed $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan, offering up the worst potholes encountered on their commutes.
One Herald reader said the stretch of Route 1 from Saugus to Danvers is “an absolute joke.”
About $20 million is currently being spent to resurface the road from Chelsea to Saugus, according to MassDOT, but a $9.6 million project from Saugus to Lynnfield won’t be advertised for construction bids until later this year and a $12 million project from Peabody to Danvers won’t be advertised until fiscal year 2019.
A $8.75 million project to resurface three miles of road in Lynnfield and Peabody won’t be advertised until fiscal 2021 because it’s being coordinated with Massachusetts Water Resources Authority and Peabody water infrastructure improvements.
“The Massachusetts Department of Transportation is responsible for maintaining nearly 10,000 lane miles of state roadways and has a comprehensive process for planning capital improvement projects that considers numerous factors including conditions of roadways, available resources, public input, and potential impacts to travel,” spokesman Patrick Marvin said in a statement.
Another reader described Route 28 from North Reading to Stoneham as “deplorable for more than a decade.”
That stretch of road is part of a $5.6 million project on both sides of Reading town center that is being designed and will be advertised later this year.
Trump’s proposal, which would redistribute $200 billion in federal transportation money and call for state and other sources to fund the remaining $1.3 trillion, came under fire from transit advocates Monday for not sending enough money from Washington.
But MassDOT said it will be keeping an eye on the bill as it moves through Congress to see if any cash can be grabbed for the Bay State.