Massachusetts transportation officials said a new construction plan for replacing the Interstate 91 viaduct in Springfield will cause fewer traffic headaches than a previous version.
A hearing Tuesday night in Springfield was a follow-up to one in April, where residents voiced major concerns about traffic disruption resulting from the estimated $230 million project.
Michael O’Dowd, project manager at Mass DOT, said he’s confident the latest plan addresses those concerns.
“There are a couple of areas, perhaps outside of the immediate area that we had looked at, that we will go back and look at a little bit more and see whether or not we anticipate any impacts…overflowing traffic or anything like that that may happen,” O’Dowd said. “Certainly there’s going to be a lot of signage, there will be a lot of diversions. But I think we’ve done it in such a way that’s complete.”
Construction is slated to begin as early as November and be completed in three years. DOT said that at all times during the project, two travel lanes of I-91 will be open in each direction.
Originally published on May 20, 2014 at nepr.net.
