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Revere to pilot Harris Street traffic reconfiguration Dec. 6 after years of mitigation planning
Summary
City planners will test a new Harris Street/Route 16 intersection configuration on Dec. 6 aimed at removing regional cut-through traffic; the 90-day pilot includes baseline and post-implementation counts, a developer $35,000 contribution, multilingual outreach and the possibility of reversions or further changes based on data.
Tom Skrowski, Revere’s chief of planning and community development, told the City Council the Harris Street reconfiguration — developed as off‑site mitigation tied to the Suffolk Downs project and reflected in MEPA section 61 findings — will be implemented the afternoon of Dec. 6 as a 90‑day pilot.
Skrowski described lane changes at the Route 16/Winthrop Avenue intersection and said the pilot will convert the first block of Harris Street to one‑way, reduce the intersection from five signal phases to four and add dual turn lanes to shorten wait times. “There’s about 2,500 vehicles that currently use Harris Street as essentially a cut through,” he said, and the goal is to divert “1,500 to 2,000 of those cars and bring them back onto Route 16.”
The city will collect pre‑ and post‑implementation data: 24‑hour turning‑movement counts at the intersection, 48‑hour automatic traffic recorder counts on Sewell Street, Harris Street and Route 16 approaches, and turning movement counts at Bell Circle. Skrowski said HYM, the developer tied to the mitigation commitments, will support data collection and contribute $35,000 toward neighborhood improvements to be used if tweaks are needed.
Skrowski outlined outreach plans including flyers in Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and Khmer, reverse 311 calls to abutters, temporary signage at both ends of the pilot area, social media posts and coordination with GPS providers (Google, Waze, Apple). He also noted a longer‑term Bell Circle project that would cost more than $7 million and proceed through MassDOT permitting when Suffolk Downs development reaches the referenced build‑out threshold.
Councilors and residents pushed back during a lengthy Q&A and public comment period. Councilor Cogliandro criticized the timing and said residents and ward councilors had received insufficient notice: “The lack of communication to the residents and to the ward councilors is unacceptable,” she said, asking for on‑the‑ground counts on Sewell Street before the change. Other councilors asked whether lost parking on Sewell and Bixby streets had been fully considered and whether winter data would reflect peak summer patterns.
Skrowski said police details and increased signage will be used at launch and that the traffic commission will have the authority to analyze the 90‑day results and make adjustments: “If the data is sending us in a different direction … we can pivot and adapt,” he said. Several residents urged delay until spring so the city could hold neighborhood meetings and study potential impacts on emergency access and small side streets.
The council placed the presentation on file. Next steps spelled out by city staff include starting baseline counts immediately (weather permitting), collecting the 90‑day dataset, sharing the presentation materials and flyers with councilors, and coordinating midpoint and final review meetings with the traffic commission and neighborhood representatives.
Ending: The pilot launches Dec. 6; the city will report interim results around the 45‑day mark and a full 90‑day evaluation will inform whether to keep, modify or reverse the configuration.
