Green Line Extension Agreements Reached

Transportation Secretary James A. Aloisi, Jr. and Somerville Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone announced today that they have reached agreement on two important aspects of the extension of the Green Line through Somerville to Medford. 

In order to provide maximum pedestrian and bicycle access to the Green Line, and to support the City’s efforts to expand alternative transportation routes, EOT has committed to underwriting the cost of planning and design for an extension of Somerville’s Community Path.  The extension, which will follow the Green Line’s right of way through east and central Somerville, will fulfill a longstanding goal of bicycle advocates and city planners to link the entire city to a bike route that currently extends from Cedar Street all the way out to Bedford – some fifteen miles away.

In addition, EOT has agreed that, if a planned Green Line maintenance facility is ultimately located in the Innerbelt-Brickbottom district of Somerville, it will be designed and sited in ways that preserve livability, access, and development potential.

“The Green Line Extension is one of our highest-profile projects, and one that offers enormous transportation benefits for the communities northwest of Boston,” says Secretary Aloisi.  “We see Somerville as one of our partners in the planning process, and their participation has been and will continue to be invaluable as we move forward.”

“When Secretary Aloisi ended months of speculation by committing to an extension of the Green Line all the way to Route 16, we knew that we had a decisive and forward-thinking partner,” said Mayor Curtatone.  “We’re also deeply appreciative of the Secretary’s commitment to developing the Community Path – a project that we think will not only be good for our residents, but will enhance ridership on the Green Line and help promote a truly multimodal transportation system for Somerville and its neighbors.”

More information about the Green Line Extension project, including information about upcoming public meetings, can be found here. 

Comments

[Ryan Silva]

Does anyone know if the trains running on the green line through Somerville are going to be as excruciatingly slow as the rest of the green line? If so, I'll just end up taking a bus to Davis and using the red line instead.

[Paula Brody]

So far, the DoT has offered no evidence to convince Brickbottom residents that the maintenance facility can be built without disastrously affecting the lives of the 155 families living right next to the site. Nor can they find another example in the entire country of a facility of that great size and purpose being sited so close to homes, suggesting that they have no factual support for their assurances that quality of life, neighborhood development potential, and value of homes will not be destroyed.
While Somerville is already over-run and over-burdened by transportation lines that serve other communities, it is interesting to note that sites in wealthier nearby communities are not being seriously considered.

[Michael]

When will Medford's city government stop sitting on their hands and get involved in the planning for this extension? Somerville has been actively involved, and as a result is shaping this project for the better and extracting solid commitments from the state. Medford's residents want this project, but Medford City Hall has been conspicuously silent.