GE to Open Federal Street for First Time Since 1962
March 13, 2002 By Thor Jourgensen, The Daily Item

General Electric and the city took a symbolic but significant step Tuesday towards reopening Federal Street by September.

Street and sidewalk surfaces on the half mile-long thoroughfare must be repaired and fences relocated before Federal Street can be opened to traffic.

Mayor Edward J. “Chip” Clancy Jr. said the work should be completed by late summer in time for Federal’s opening to coincide with the start of the next school year.

Federal is a vital north-south link to the streets immediately off of Boston Street and Western Avenue.

Its reopening is expected to ease traffic on the city’s other major arteries.

“It should help free up commercial traffic and alleviate tremendous stress on Spencer and Centre streets,” the mayor said.

Federal’s reopening was one of the goals Clancy outlined in his January inaugural speech. Tuesday he praised new River Works General Manager and Lynn Area Executive Corinne Johnson for accelerating reopening plans.

“Corinne was very cooperative. We achieved this despite complicated interests and got it done without a (land) taking,” Clancy said.

Johnson credited her predecessor, Timothy Noonan with helping to map out the legal provisions required by GE to hand Federal over to the city and for setting the stage for the reopening.

“I said, ‘what will it take to get this over the line,’” she said.

Reopening Federal has been anything but a smooth process for the city and General Electric, which took possession of the street with the city’s permission in 1962.

With Cold War concerns in mind, the jet engine manufacturer cited security needs in asking for the street’s closing, but liability concerns have hampered its reopening.

The fence surrounding the street is posted with a sign emblazoned with the words, “national defense premises.”

Federal Street parallels GE’s West Lynn site, one of the largest potential development parcels in the city.

Recent focus on developing that site has come after years of GE concerns over potential environmental problems associated with the land.