South Shore: Private developers looking at Route 3 expansion

It’s been talked about before, and now there’s a new proposal being floated for an expansion of Route 3 on the South Shore.

The nine-mile North-South stretch between Braintree and Norwell would have a third, electronic toll lane.

The expansion, with an estimated price tag of at least $350 million, is reportedly being pitched to private developers by Corcoran and Associates,  a Quincy law firm that facilitates public-private transportation projects.

Under the plan, which has been forwarded to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, toll revenue would finance the expansion’s design and construction.

Massachusetts Senator Bob Hedlund, a member of the Joint Committee on Transportation, told WATD the additional lane might ease traffic congestion and deserves a closer look, but there are environmental and land-taking issues to be worked out.

State representative Jim Cantwell, who serves Marshfield and Scituate, told WATD he doesn’t like the idea of a toll road, but added, he is reserving judgment for now on whether privatizing the project is a good plan.