I enjoyed your Blue Line commentary (Item, Nov. 30). It’s my understanding that in the 1950s when the Blue Line was extended beyond Orient Heights to Wonderland, plans at that time called for its extension to Lynn. I rode the Blue Line for five years in the late ’60s and early ’70s while I was a student at Northeastern.
Back then there was talk about an extension to Lynn along with the construction of a parking garage. As I was driving from Nahant to Wonderland I often thought that, from the standpoint of traffic congestion created by people driving to a Lynn terminus, it would make more sense to extend the line to the much less congested area of Essex Street and Danvers Road in Swampscott, close to Vinnin Square.
People from Salem, Marblehead, Swampscott and beyond could easily reach a garage in that location without having to travel on Lynn Shore Drive, the Lynnway and other city streets. A Lynn T stop would still provide the economic stimulus while a Vinnin Square T garage would ease traffic congestion created by people traveling to and from a Lynn garage.
It’s something for future generations to think about.
Mike Golding
Hendersonville, N.C., formerly of Nahant