Cost Of Fixing Dangerous Peabody Road Increases To $11.2 Million

PEABODY, MA -- Peabody officials offered an overview of an $11.2 million makeover of Wilson Square and Central Street between the square and Railroad Avenue Tuesday night. The cost of the project has risen since last February, when City Council approved a $470,000 contract for the design of what was then called a $9.7 million construction project.

The overhaul would cover a one-mile stretch of Central Street and would include road resurfacing, new sidewalks, crosswalks, traffic signals and landscaping. About 27,000 care use the stretch of road daily, according to a traffic study. Between 2012 and 2016 there were more than 100 accidents just in Wilson Square.

According to the Salem News, about 75 people attended Tuesday night's meeting and were told the project was still four years away from getting started. "This is an extremely important project for our city's future," Mayor Ted Bettencourt said.

For more on this story, see the Salem News. Subscribe to Peabody Patch for more local news and real-time alerts.

Patch file photo via Shutterstock.