Update on "Use It or Lose It"

A few days ago I wrote a story on how my state has all this Monopoly money waiting to be used, if not abused.
I stated how this money is being put to good use in creating work not jobs and in some cases even making things worse, as only government can.....
In the newspaper today:

The $23 million project to fix ramps to Route 128 has nearly doubled the short commute of Sean Ward.

"My commute home used to be nine minutes. It now takes 15," said Ward, a Danvers resident who is president of Syllogistic Management Solutions, a software business at the Cummings Center in Beverly.

The intersection that he used to breeze through has become a virtual parking lot, studded with No Turn On Red signs, confused motorists who don't know which lane they should be in, and traffic backups at numerous new lights.

Yesterday afternoon at around 1:40 p.m. -- no one's idea of rush hour -- eastbound traffic on Route 62 could be seen backing up toward the entrance of the Holten Richmond Middle School.

Other pinch points include Route 62 at Route 128, where drivers heading toward Beverly try to access the new on-ramp for the highway. They must yield to two lanes of oncoming traffic after a green arrow allowing a clear left turn disappears.

"It's useless," Ward said of the project, which was supposed to improve exit ramps to Route 128 at Route 62 and Route 35. "The entire road is useless. It's $23 million worth of useless." 

A spokesman for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation said the agency has received a number of complaints about traffic since the ramps were opened and new signals were turned on, and it may have identified part of the problem.

"Thus far, a review of the signals has identified problems that were traced to settings which were not allowing the system to get into coordination," said Michael Verseckes, a spokesman for MassDOT.

"The signals are set to run coordinated from 6 a.m. through 9 p.m. daily using two different timing patterns," he explained.

When the lights are coordinated at both Routes 62 and 35, traffic "flows fairly well," he said. "When the signals are not in coordination, traffic congestion quickly sets in and things get tied up."

MassDOT officials also plan to tweak signal timing settings to lessen congestion and address other concerns. Workers were in Danvers on Tuesday and will be returning next week to fine-tune things.

"The design consultant is also looking at some potential phasing changes in an effort to address some of the concerns being experienced," Verseckes said.

The long-awaited project to improve safety on Route 128 began in earnest in May of 2010. The state has since replaced cloverleaf-shaped ramps with acceleration and deceleration lanes at Route 62 (Elliott Street) and Route 35 (High Street), among other things.

This now is a daily occurrence and I try to take alternate routes when I can.
As stated, a new project is scheduled to begin next year on a street that abuts this route????  Also, the bridge that has remained half done for the last five years, because of low bid contracting, also is available as an alternate route! Can't wait till the snow flies and plowing is added to the mix.