September 9, 2024 |City of Lynn, City Services, News, Northern Strand Community Trail,, State of MA

Lynn awarded $9.5 million federal grant for street safety improvements

Share

• F
• T
• L

The City has been awarded a $9.6 million federal grant that will be used to improve dangerous intersections and roadways throughout Lynn.

Last week, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced more than $1 billion in grants through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for the Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) program. Lynn is one of 354 communities nationwide that was awarded funding to improve roadway safety and prevent deaths and serious injuries.  

The funding will be used to make safety improvements along 17 miles of the City’s high-injury network, which is characterized by high speeds, frequent crashes, poor nighttime visibility, outdated signal infrastructure and few safe pedestrian crossings. From 2019-23, there were 17 fatal crashes and 194 serious-injury crashes in Lynn, while seven of the City’s intersections ranked in the top 200 crash clusters in the state from 2018-20.

U.S. Transportation Deputy Secretary Polly Trottenberg, Lt. Governor Kim Driscoll and Mayor Jared C. Nicholson were among the public officials who celebrated the funding Monday in an event at the Northern Strand community path on Boston Street.

Recording of press conference

Recording processing, will be available soon…

“We are incredibly grateful to receive this funding from our partners in Washington,” said Nicholson. “This grant will allow us to perform critical improvements that will benefit all drivers, pedestrians and cyclists who use our roads.”

“As a former mayor, I know how critical these federal awards are to supporting our communities and making our residents safer,” saidDriscoll. “We congratulate the City of Lynn on this award which will improve their roadways and quality of life for residents. Our administration is committed to supporting communities as they compete for federal dollars to advance these important initiatives.”

“I am pleased to join Massachusetts leaders to celebrate a dozen awardees, including Lynn, are receiving $25 million from the Biden-Harris Administration to make their streets safer for everyone,” said Trottenberg. “We are proud to have found a formula that works for a large federal program that is helping solve a national safety problem by working at the local level, in partnership with local leaders and community members.”

“Lynn sits only 10 miles from Boston, yet it has historically missed out on the same investments in high-quality transportation and infrastructure afforded to its regional neighbors,” said U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton. “I was proud to support the application for this important funding, which will save lives in Lynn, and set a model for how to design streets for all users — no matter how you travel.”

City Planner Aaron Clausen led the City’s efforts in completing the grant application, with the Mass. Department of Transportation providing planning and financial support, he said.

The SS4A funding will be used to reconstruct four high-crash, high-risk intersections: Summer and South streets, Liberty and Washington streets, Boston and Hamilton streets, and Broad, Silsbee and Newhall streets. Work will include new lighting, curb extensions, rapid flashing beacons, raised crosswalks, speed humps, school zone lighting, street lighting, protected left turns and signal modernization.

Implementation of the SS4A grant will include additional outreach and community engagement, support data collection to assess effectiveness of improvements, and supplement the Lynn Police Department’s speed feedback program.

“This is taking a systemic approach to improving safety on the roads across the City. There has been a lot of planning work, benefiting from community input, to establish a comprehensive approach to a very real safety problem. This approach has provided straight forward strategy to help eliminate severe crashes and injuries, and the SS4A will jump start that implementation of these plans.”

City Planner Aaron Clausen

The grant was informed by extensive planning work carried out by Lynn’s Planning Department in collaboration with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT). The Safe Streets for People Playbook completed in 2022 engaged the community to identify priority corridors and strategies to improve safety for vulnerable roadway users. The Safety Action Plan builds off the playbook and establishes a Vision Zero Goal to eliminate series injuries and fatalities on Lynn’s streets. The plan was developed by the Lynn Traffic Safety Task Force, comprised of representatives of eight City departments and MassDOT, who will be tapped to support project implementation and community engagement.

The City will have five years to fully implement the grant funding, starting in 2025, Clausen said.

“This funding will save lives throughout the City,” saidSen. Brendan Crighton. “These federal dollars are critically important to addressing our transportation infrastructure needs and making vital improvements. I am grateful to USDOT and the collaboration between our federal, state, and local partners that made this transformative award possible.”

“All signs are pointing toward roadway safety in Lynn,” said Sen. Edward J. Markey. “I am proud to have helped secure this federal funding for critical safety improvements in the city through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and I am grateful for the partnership with Mayor Nicholson, Senator Warren, Congressman Moulton, and the Biden-Harris administration to make this safety project a reality.”

“This critical federal funding — made possible by the historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Law — is a huge win for Lynn. I’m glad to have secured this investment in Lynn’s roads and intersections, which will make life safer for everyone who uses them to bike, walk, and drive,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren.