Neighboring Towns Worried About Impacts Of Proposed Taunton Casino
BOSTON (CBS) - Gov. Deval Patrick says he's working on negotiating a gaming plan for a casino in Taunton that he says would benefit the entire region, but some neighboring towns are concerned.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Kim Tunnicliffe reports.
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Towns in the Taunton area want to make sure they have a say in any gaming discussions between Taunton and the Mashpee Wampanoag Indian tribe.
Norton town manager Michael Yunits says one thing he's concerned about is increased traffic on area highways.
"There needs to be some major road improvements to support that casino and there needs to be a third lane added to route 24, more than likely there needs to be a clover leaf added to that intersection," said Yunits. "We're not saying we don't want Taunton to have a casino, we just want to work with them to make sure the impacts don't affect us."
Yunits says increased traffic on small town roads would likely result in more accidents and that could put a strain on public safety resources.
"We want to know what the traffic impacts are going to be and what litigation is going to be done at key intersections to prevent back up," said Yunits.
