July 03, 2009 05:55 am It's not quite as disheartening as putting up a warning sign telling visitors to steer clear of Essex this summer. But the Massachusetts Highway Department has essentially delivered that same message this week with the launch of the Route 133 reconstruction project along the town's Causeway. And it remains unfathomable that, after keeping this project on the drawing board or in the talking stages for 16 years, the state has chosen to kick it off at the height of the season when local merchants hope to make enough money to sustain them for the rest of the year. The Essex Merchants Group continues to do a fine job promoting the town's growing and evolving business community. And the filming of the high-profile movie "Grown Ups" — with Adam Sandler, Chis Rock, Salma Hayek, Kevin James and others in town — has generated interest and business revenue for the town estimated at up to $1 million. Yet today, the orange cones are out. Workday travel these days is down to one lane, which means traffic in both directions will be taking turns, about 20 cars at a time. And that means there will be significant backups — enough to prompt tourists to go somewhere, anywhere, but through or to Essex. The state has made one concession to tourist traffic: both lanes will be open on weekends, and that is, indeed, encouraging since the work had begun on the cusp of the summer's biggest holiday weekend. But, as we've noted in the past, there has been no plausible explanation why, given how long the project's been in the works, the actual work couldn't have been pushed back until at least September. For their part, town officials and even merchants are saying all the right things. "I think it's going to be somewhat inconvenient, but necessary," said Selectman Chairman Jeff Jones. Somewhat inconvenient? This project looms as an unmitigated traffic nightmare, at the exact time of year when state and local officials should be doing everything they can to mitigate traffic problems. Jones also says that, since the economy is slow, this is the best time to do it — and a true optimist may argue there's something to that. But the summer is still the best time — the most critical time — for local merchants. If they can't make the best of a slow economy, they may not survive the other three seasons. And this is not a one-summer event. The project is not expected to be completed for more than two years, until September 2011. Yes, the Route 133 work is indeed necessary — it involves drainage improvements, installation of sidewalks, rebuilding the seawall and installation of pilings to keep the Causeway from shifting along a 1.1-mile stretch. But all major road construction projects such as this should be scheduled with serious consideration of the economic hardship they can create. This is a project in which the majority of the work should be done in the fall and the spring, when it is still warm enough to do road construction, not at the only time when there is a burst of tourist dollars. There are some bright spots. The Essex Route 133 project is one of some 70 in which the state is using civilian flaggers to direct traffic through the section where the road will be down to one lane. That makes sense; cars will barely be moving anyway, and the risks of an accident are low. This is not the kind of project that needs the expertise, or the expense, of trained police officers being paid $40 per hour or more. But beyond that, the final planning and timing of this project couldn't be worse — and Essex and its businesses deserve so much better. Perhaps someone from MassHighway can include some hard answers as to just who came up with this ill-conceived script.
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