Roadwork and Sorrows on Salem’s Streets
By Larry Saggese Jr.
Hazel Street runs tough. This type of road work has been a common occurrence in the Salem community over the past few years. Nate Daglio, UPS employee, Salem State graduate and Roslyn Street resident is more than familiar with this process.
Nate, pictured on Saturday, October 29th, stands adjacent to his Jeep Wrangler as he surveys the work being done on the street that he frequently travels.
“It’s ridiculous. I have been here five years now and they have been working on these streets at least half of that time,” says Daglio. “This Canal Street project seems like it has been going on forever. Maybe it will come together some day, but I will probably be long gone by then.”
Salem’s $40 million Canal Street project that he is referring to broke ground in July 2016, and according to Salem.com, the next steps will be removing asphalt and grading the northbound lane of Canal Street between Roslyn and Pond Streets for the week of October 31st. “I can only hope that one day I wake up and they’ll be done,” says Daglio. “No more delays, no more ungraded roads, just give me a smooth commute to work for once.”
According to salemstate.edu, roughly 50 percent of Salem State students commute to campus. A small fraction of those students commute by foot. Marvin Flemming, 24-year-old SSU sophomore, is one of those few. Flemming, pictured above on his stoop this past Sunday, October 30th, takes on a full time work load as a student while working over 30 hours a week at Crosby’s Market.
“I’ve definitely gotten used to it,” says Flemming in regards to his walking commutes. “Both school and work are within a couple of miles, but this road work is dangerous man. I never know which streets are safe to travel anymore. They seem to change every week.”
Marvin often travels Canal Street as it is his quickest route coming from his apartment on Roslyn. “That’s part of the reason why I don’t even want to get my license, I see what these people have to deal with on the daily. Sometime I think it’s faster to walk.” Lack of sidewalk space and sporadic street parking leaves it more difficult than usual for walking commuters, such as Marvin, to navigate the Salem streets during times of construction.
Taking a quick peek. Jerimiah Jennings takes a look out of his front door to the completed road work on Salem’s Tremont Street.
Jennings is a member of the Massachusetts Pile Drivers Local 56 and has owned his home on Highland Street for a little over two years now.
“Yeah, the road work doesn’t really bother me,” says Jennings. “I know they have work to do and it always gets pushed back. I just think it is terrible that they continue to run projects through October. That basically shuts down the entire back side of Salem during the busiest traffic month of the year, I’ve been avoiding it at all cost.”
Jennings echoes the ideals of all of those who are tasked of traveling through Salem during such a busy time of the year. The “cluster explicit” that he describes is only on Phase II of the Canal Street project. Drainage improvements will begin once the Canal Street roadway reconstruction is completed.
