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Massachusetts transportation officials say a new construction plan for replacing the Interstate-91 viaduct in Springfield will cause fewer traffic headaches than a previous version.
A hearing Tuesday night in Springfield was a follow-up to one in April, where residents voiced major concerns about traffic disruption resulting from the estimated $230 million project.
Michael O’Dowd, project manager at Mass DOT, says he’s confident the latest plan addresses those concerns.
“There are a couple of areas, perhaps outside of the immediate area that we had looked at, that we will go back and look at a little bit more and see whether or not we anticipate any impacts…overflowing traffic or anything like that that may happen,” O’Dowd says. “Certainly there’s going to be a lot of signage, there will be a lot of diversions. But I think we’ve done it in such a way that’s complete.”
Construction is slated to begin as early as November and be completed in three years.
DOT says at all times during the project, two travel lanes of I-91 will be open in each direction.