Mayor Calls for East Braintree Meeting on Fore River Bridge Construction

In light of traffic concerns surrounding the current and future construction of the Fore River Bridge, Mayor Joseph Sullivan is calling for a public meeting in East Braintree for residents to hear from project officials.

Sullivan submitted a letter as part of the public forum held Tuesday night in Weymouth, in which he requests a similar meeting bringing together the East Braintree Civic Association, Mass Highway and contractor J.F. White.

"While I appreciate the need to get this long awaited permanent bridge in place, I have concerns, as do Braintree residents, on the construction phase of this project regarding exacerbated traffic conditions," Sullivan wrote.

"Braintree, as an abutting town to this project, may have negative traffic impacts on our local roads as traffic looks to avoid the bridge during construction. To that end, I met with Secretary Davey on January 9 to discuss this matter. Secretary Davey assured me that every possible potential trafñc
impact would be measured and monitored. Additionally, I am aware that Representative Mark Cusack had conveyed his concerns to state transportation officials as well."

Reduced traffic patterns, affecting commuters from Hingham to Braintree and beyond, would be in effect during a four-month period in 2015, likely from May to August, project manager Jack Pecora said during Tuesday night's meeting.

Most of the construction period will not affect traffic at all, Pecora added, but when the lanes crossing the new bridge are being set, traffic will have to be reduced to one lane in each direction.

The only realistic detour would be through Weymouth Landing and into East Braintree, Michael Lang of the East Braintree Civic Association said. Lang argued that the traffic study done by the contractor under-estimated how many vehicles would go through the area and the result would be gridlock.