Mayor William F. Scanlon Jr. of Beverly says a key priority in 2013 is to advance the state project to reconstruct the Brimball Avenue interchange on Route 128.

“We think it’s a very important regional project that has the potential to create up to 7,500 jobs over a 10-year period,” he said of the upgrade, which took a major step forward in November when the state allotted $500,000  to complete design of the first phase.