FROED One Government Center Fall River, MA 02722-7700 Tel 508-324-2620 Fax 508-677-2840 info@froed.org		STATE SETS OCTOBER DEADLINE TO FINISH OVERPASS The Herald News, Monday, July 20, 2009 - Page A1 FREETOWN - MassHighway has set an Oct. 9 deadline to complete a Route 24 overpass project that has prompted safety concerns because of increased accidents. Responding to an inquiry from the Freetown Board of Selectmen, MassHighway District 5 said it hopes to put an end to the three-year bridge deck replacement project by the end of the summer or early fall. State Highway Department spokeswoman Ann Dufresne said the department said Oct. 9 is the absolute deadline to finish the three-phase, $3.7 million endeavor. Selectmen and town Police Chief Carlton E. Abbott Jr. have said the bridge work has led to a dangerous scenario - traffic from Freetown entering Route 24 via Exit 9 must come to a complete stop and then merge with traffic traveling 65 miles per hour. Selectmen Chairwoman Jean C. Fox said her own son was rear-ended last summer, totaling his car. “This has been an excruciatingly slow process, so we are pleased to have some sort of timeline for it. We have observed significantly greater activity on the part of the contractor of late,” she wrote in an e-mail this week. Dufresne said this project has been very involved, which is why it has taken so long. She said contractors are currently in the final phase of the project. Abbott recently confirmed that there have been 45 accidents on the southbound lane or on Route 24 near one of the lanes between Jan 1, 2008 and June 18. “This poorly designed and continually changing ramp system is dangerous and has undoubtedly contributed to many of these accidents,” he said in an e-mail. “The most recent Route 24 southbound ramp incarnation has converted the breakdown lane into a travel lane, resulting in motorists entering the highway into the path of cars traveling at high speeds.” Officials have warned residents, especially young and inexperienced drivers, to avoid those Exit 9 lanes as much as possible and use Exit 10 instead. Selectmen recently said that motorists on Route 24 very rarely slow down to 45 miles per hour, which is the maximum speed limit in a construction zone, contributing to the problem. Back