BEVERLY — State Rep. Ted Speliotis, D-Danvers, told business leaders yesterday that their commute on Route 128 to the Cummings Center should become easier in the next three years.
That's because the state has awarded a $20.1 million contract to fix two interchanges and a highway bridge over train tracks on Route 128 in Danvers.
The project, which has been anticipated for years, is expected to start this spring and wrap up by the summer of 2013.
"It is my privilege to announce today that the construction contract of the phase one of Route 128 ... has been awarded," Speliotis said at the North Shore Alliance for Economic Development, which gathered at the Beverly's Cummings Center yesterday morning.
D.W. White Construction of Acushnet won the contract in December, said Massachusetts Department of Transportation spokesman Adam Hurtubise. The bid was below the estimate of $27 million due to the economic climate that "has led to increased competition among contractors."
"We have all used the ramps, we all have lived with that danger every single day," Speliotis said of ramps that force drivers to stop before racing to merge onto the highway.
The Route 128 improvements should make it easier to get to the massive Cummings Center office, research and lab complex that sits on Route 62, officials said.
"We have this project that I'm announcing today, which is critical to the Cummings Center and everything that was talked about. This is a microcosm of the discussion," Speliotis said.
The region has lived with those deficient ramps for decades, Speliotis said, and the problem has been compounded with the redevelopment of the Cummings Center, with the Route 62 interchange acting as the gateway to the bustling complex.
"Transportation improvements such as this are directly related to the ability of Cummings Center, and the entire North Shore, to compete with other regions for new companies," said Dennis Clarke, president and CEO of Cummings Properties, in a prepared statement.
"This first phase of improvements will send a strong message to employers, commuters, shoppers and visitors to the region that the North Shore understands the value of improving our transportation infrastructure," said state Senate Majority Leader Fred Berry, D-Peabody, in a statement.
The roadwork has been on the radar screen for years, Speliotis said, and has been fully designed since 2007.
"Maybe it took a little bit longer than people would have liked," said House Speaker Robert DeLeo, who was at the Cummings Center yesterday to speak with alliance leaders. "It's going to provide a lot of construction jobs. At the end of the day, it's going to bring more public safety, a better flow of traffic."
The project involves the creation of acceleration and deceleration lanes on Route 35 (High Street) and Route 62 (Elliott Street).
These on- and off-ramps will replace cloverleaf-shaped interchanges that force drivers to stop before merging onto a highway designed in the 1940s to carry 15,000 cars a day, but which now carries about 80,000, state traffic counts show.
The project also includes the replacement of a bridge over an unused MBTA rail line south of High Street, retaining walls at the northbound Elliott Street ramp and noise barriers at both interchanges, Hurtubise said in an e-mail.
The ramps would also take highway ramp traffic off local Danvers roads such as State and Milton roads and Florence Street.
"I hope we don't inconvenience you too much during the construction phase," Speliotis told business leaders about possible traffic tie-ups due to the work.
To lessen those traffic impacts, the intersections will be rebuilt in stages with plans in place to manage traffic, Hurtubise said. Work will not be conducted on Routes 128, 35 and 62 during peak weekday commutes.
Federal and state Highway Safety Improvement and Surface Transportation Program funds, not federal stimulus dollars, will pay for the project, Hurtubise said.
"Everybody involved responded to the shovel-ready request," said Speliotis, who said state officials responded to a request in 2008 to use stimulus money on the project.
"It doesn't matter what pool of money they are using, what matters is the project is getting done," Speliotis said.
A second, $27 million phase of work to widen and add shoulders to Route 128 is still being designed and would begin after phase one work is done, Hurtubise said.
Staff writer Ethan Forman can be reached at 978-338-2673 or eforman@salemnews.com.
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