2021 Community Mitigation Fund Grant Recipient Spotlight: City of Revere and Town of Saugus
- July 21, 2021
- by MGC Communications
- 0 comments
As part of approximately $4.8 million in grants through the 2021 Community Mitigation Fund, the MGC recently issued an $800,000 joint grant to the City of Revere and Town of Saugus to fund transportation improvements across the region.
The Community Mitigation Fund, established by the gaming law, helps host and surrounding communities and other qualified applicants to offset costs related to casino construction and operation. Grant awards support a range of community needs including education, transportation, infrastructure, housing, environmental issues, public safety, and emergency services.
Since 2015, the MGC has awarded nearly $28 million in grants from the Community Mitigation Fund.
In 2017, the City of Revere and Town of Saugus received a Joint Transportation Planning grant of $150,000 to engage a transportation planning specialist. A year later, the two communities combined for a $275,000 joint grant for the preliminary design for elements of the Route 1 Improvement Project. In 2019, a $425,000 joint grant was awarded for transportation improvements along Route 1 and Route 99.
“When the transportation planning grants were first instituted, the Commission realized that taking a more regional approach would typically be more effective than each community going it alone,” MGC Community Affairs Division Chief Joe Delaney said. “In order to encourage regionalization, communities that collaborated together were eligible to receive bonus funding.”
“Since Route 1 passes through both Revere and Saugus and they both share in the transportation problems that deficiencies in that roadway causes, applying for funds jointly made a lot of sense,” Delaney continued. “Revere and Saugus received their base grants and bonus funds because of their collaboration.”
Saugus Town Manager Scott C. Crabtree said in a release that this year’s grant will “help mitigate traffic and congestion along the Town’s most traveled roadway, which will improve safety for the residents and visitors of Saugus.”
“We look forward to continuing to work together with the Massachusetts Gaming Commission and the City of Revere to make essential roadway improvements along these major arteries that will help alleviate existing traffic and offset anticipated traffic resulting from the increased volume of vehicles visiting the casino,” Crabtree said.
For more information about the 2021 Community Mitigation Fund, click here.