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A SPUR TO REVERE BEACH: The Revere Beach Connector was first conceived as a spur of the Northeast Expressway (US 1) in the Master Highway Plan for the Boston Metropolitan Area, which was released by the Massachusetts Department of Public Works (MassDPW) in 1948. Designed to provide access to the resort areas of the North Shore, the four-lane connector, which was to be routed along the Pines River, was to have interchanges at the Cutler Circle, Broadway (MA 107) and Shore Road (MA 1A). The "Relocated Route 60" was expected to handle approximately 10,000 vehicles per day (AADT).
Two decades later, the Recommended Highway and Transit Plan advocated construction of the 1.5-mile-long spur to Revere Beach. The $2.5 million expressway spur, which was scheduled for completion by 1975, was to not only serve recreational traffic, but also relieve existing arterial roadways in the area. A more ambitious alternative - one that was not endorsed by the MassDPW - called for a western extension of the connector along the MA 60 corridor to I-93 (Northern Expressway) in Medford, creating another bypass of the core urban area.
In 1970, Governor Francis Sargent ordered a moratorium on all new expressway construction within MA 128 (Yankee Division Highway), and ordered a review of expressway and transit plans in the Boston area. The Boston Transportation Planning Review (BTPR), which resulted from the governor's action, kept the Revere Beach Connector proposal. Under the BTPR plans, which were released in 1971 and 1972, the connector was to provide access to the proposed (but never built) Pines River-MBTA Blue Line terminal.
The Revere Beach Connector, which would have been constructed over the environmentally sensitive Pines River and Diamond Creek wetlands area, was canceled in the mid-1970's. The cancellation of I-95 through Saugus and the Lynn Woods Reservation may have made the need for the spur less urgent.
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