Wednesday, October 4, 2000

I-93 interchange becomes a reality

By MONIQUE VALLEE

STAFF WRITER

STATE SEN. ROBERT HAVERN

The Commerce Way-Atlantic Avenue Interchange from Interstate 93 opened Tuesday, with a lot of fanfare and admonitions for Woburn to say goodbye to the old and welcome to something new.

After three years and $15.7 million, the bridge was opened to traffic at 5 p.m. on Tuesday following a ribbon-cutting ceremony by Molly and Kelly McKeown in honor of their father after whom the James L. McKeown Memorial Bridge was named.

MassHighway Commissioner Matthew Amorello, state Secretary of Transportation Kevin J. Sullivan, Mayor Robert Dever, state Sen. Robert Havern, D-Arlington, and state Rep. Carol Donovan, D-Woburn, were on hand to launch the new interchange.

The interchange was built in conjunction with the Regional Transportation Center on the old Superfund site. All of the speakers called the opening of the interchange as an opportunity to put that legacy behind Woburn.

"This long-awaited project didn't happen by accident. It happened because people got behind it," said Amorello. "By reusing a Brownfields site and turning it into a first-rate infrastructure system it is a symbol of positive development for the state of Massachusetts."

His opening speech was followed by Sullivan's, who mirrored his sentiments.

"Seven years ago this idea was just a concept," said Sullivan, "Now it's become a model on how to take a Superfund site and introduce an economic element to it and turn it into something new and useful."

Bill Cummings of Cummings Properties paid a special tribute to Jamie McKeown, who was a business and civic leader in Woburn, and who was president of Cummings Properties when he died in 1996 at the age of 41.

A known friend and admirer of McKeown's, Cummings said when McKeown was alive, he didn't think he had integrity until he had it 100 percent of the time and that was the message he brought to everyone he knew. He said the bridge was aptly named after such a positive example.

"Bridges have a symbolic meaning because they take us to where we otherwise could not go," Cummings said to the audience, and in particular to Denise McKeown, James McKeown's wife, and to Kelly and Molly, his daughters.

Havern said, "Our community needs to remember him and we need to remember what he did for this community. He was always a gentleman and always looking out for the best interests of this community."

Havern called the interchange a "model for the entire world." He said that when he began the process to build the interchange as chairman of the Transportation Committee, Havern said not many people thought it could be done.

"Who in God's name is going to build on a toxic waste site?" asked Havern. "But here we are now and this is what happens when a bad story turns good."

The state Highway Department expects to divert approximately 1,000 cars an hour during peak times, equaling around 15,000 cars a day from the congested I-93/I-95 cloverleaf area in Woburn.

The new interchange will lead commuters coming in to Woburn to the intersection of Atlantic Avenue, and Commerce and Presidential ways, an area that has seen much growth and renovation lately. With the help of the state, and Target, the city has added a culvert and a sidewalk on Commerce Way, done repaving and drainage work, and installed a light at the intersection of the three roads. And next year will see even more changes to the area.

The $13 million Jimmy Anderson Regional Transportation Center is set to open in the spring and from this, commuters will have access to buses and vans traveling to key destinations in Boston. The transportation center is a joint venture by MassHighway, Logan Express, MassPort and the Massachusetts Bat Transportation Authority (MBTA).

On the heels of the interchange and the transportation center is the development of Lowe's Home Improvement at the intersection of Commerce Way and Mishawum Road, scheduled to begin groundbreaking work this year. The project will be contributing $2.5 million in traffic improvements to the area, including lane-widening and new lights, results from which probably won't go into effect for at least a year.

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