What zone are you in? MA spans at least 2 zones, maybe 3?

Arborvite are the first thing that comes to mind. They are easy to grow and provide privacy.

You might want to consider mixing in evergreens with deciduous shrubs to make the area look interesting for most of the year. Most shrubs require little care if they are planted correctly and mulched well.

Two ways to ensure sucess of a border like this are to map it out in advance (so you can buy the right number of the right sized shrubs) and to prepare the whole area with a rototiller (as opposed to digging 25 or 50 individual holes in the lawn).

As for planning, I'd try to make the bed deep enough that you can have several staggered rows of shrubs, not one "soldier row" of all one thing. You can put taller things nearest the fence, shorter items between them and towards the house. Personally, I'd aim for just a little more height, especially on the busy street, maybe using 5 feet as your minimum for the back row, to completely obscure the chain link fence. There can be some space between these shrubs, so you won't have a "green wall" effect.

You can often buy inexpensive shrubs at the local county extension service - they generally have a spring sale right about now; many local non-profit groups also have spring sales and generally have plants that are easy to grow. If you are at a commercial nursery, remember that smaller, younger shrubs are easier to plant and survive better with just a little care. They quickly catch up to the larger/older specimens and are a lot less expensive.

If you are buying young plants, though, it's especially important to have a plan. Otherwise, you'll be tempted to space them so that they look right - you don't want to to do that! You need to space them so that they'll still fit in their spaces when they're full grown - this is extremely important, and a very common mistake. I've done it myself, more than once.

I'll list some specific plants you might want to include, these are just some of my easiest favorites; you can probably find some that you like better. It's a great idea to repeat groupings, and not to plant one each of too many different kinds.

Tall: bayberry (nearly evergreen, native, spreads), blueberry (a couple of different varieties), hydrangea (Tardiva is a good, late, upright white one), Calycanthus florida (spice bush, for fragrance), lilac

Medium: Ilex glabra (native holly, no spikes on the leaves, evergreen, compact), more blueberries (they come in different heights), mophead hydrangeas (for summer flowers)

Short: winter hazel (for late winter/ very early spring blooms), azaleas (for spring flowers), yet more blueberries (the wild, low-bush kind)

Plants you should avoid, imho, are winged euonymous (spindle tree) and spirea, because they're both invasive. Kerria is really nice, but spreads something fierce.

As for the actual planting, I'm sure this plan sounds overwhelming! You can rent a rototiller for a half day, or maybe find someone who rototills as a "side job" - there was a retired oceanographer in my town who did this, but now he's *really* retired, so I'm looking for someone like that again.

To save more time and money, you could stake out the area, cover it with newspaper, cover the newspaper with shredded leaves, seaweed, manure, or bark mulch, and let it sit for the summer. By fall (idea planting time, sale time at the nurseries, too!) you should be able to dig there easily. We call this lasagne gardening, and it's great if you are patient enough to let the new garden sit there empty long enough for the grass to decompose.

If you're too overwhelmed, you might consider planting it in stages; this will give you a chance to see how things do in one area before comitting to the whole thing. You could then tweak the plan as time goes by.

Come back to the NE forum often, let us know how it's going. You'll find lots of help here!