Silver Line faces loss of funding for last link
By Noah Bierman, Globe Staff | December 11, 2008
The MBTA's largest and highest-priority expansion project, a proposed $1.5 billion Silver Line tunnel under downtown Boston, is in immediate danger of losing federal backing because of the transit agency's weak financial condition, say sources briefed on the decision.
The Federal Transit Administration has told the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority that it plans to officially downgrade the final section of the Silver Line, a 1.1-mile bus connector that would allow riders to travel on the line from Roxbury to Logan International Airport, the sources said. While lauded by city and state officials as a crucial transit link, the project has been criticized by some as a "little dig" because of its growing price tag and potential for downtown disruption.
The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because the project's new rating will not become official until February, when the federal government releases its national project priorities. The Federal Transit Administration declined to confirm the report.
MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo also declined to comment on the decision, but said, "More information should be forthcoming in the next couple of months."
The expected downgrading, from medium to medium-low, means that unless the MBTA can fix its financial problems, the agency will not qualify for a 60 percent federal match for the project's final design, a critical step in beginning construction in 2011.
The T can reapply for the matching money, but would need to demonstrate a substantial change in its ability to pay both its 40 percent share of the project and its annual operating costs, without shortchanging existing bus, subway, and train service.
"It's a statement of reality," one state official said of the federal rating. "The big lie is over."
In the meantime, state officials will have to decide soon whether to stop work on the project or risk spending millions of dollars that may never be reimbursed, an official said.
The rating sends a strong message that the federal government recognizes the T's financial plight. The transit system carries an $8.1 billion debt load and has been depleting reserves and borrowing more money to pay its bills, a downward spiral that has the agency on the cusp of a major fare hike in 2010.
Some state officials are hopeful that the current discussions on Beacon Hill to reorganize transportation and possibly bail out the T could revive the project without losing significant time. Richard Dimino, a top advocate of the project who runs an independent business group, insists the timeline will not be affected, because the T can continue to work on already approved portions of the project's engineering throughout next year and then apply again for final design approval.
"This is simply a matter of getting a report card and waiting for the next semester's report card," said Dimino, president of a group called A Better City, which was formed to promote the Big Dig.
The Federal Transit Administration still considers the Silver Line tunnel a well-planned project and can review the finances again at any time, officials said. Until then, the T's expansion plans will continue to face public scrutiny. The Silver Line is the last expansion project that will be paid for out of the T's budget; others, like a train line to New Bedford and Fall River, are slated to be paid directly out of the state's budget.
"The only way the T can afford any expansion is for the state to contribute additional revenues, and even then it depends on how much," said Michael Widmer, head of the Massachusetts Taxpayer Foundation, a nonpartisan business-backed group. "The T's structural deficit is so large and growing that even additional state assistance might not be sufficient for the T to afford any expansion."
The project, in the works for more than a decade, has long been controversial. In 2005, MBTA General Manager Daniel A. Grabauskas suspended work on it, fearing that community opposition would doom its chances for federal money. It has since been rerouted and revived, but it continues to inspire opponents in the Theater District, Bay Village, and other adjacent areas where residents are concerned about the impact construction will have on historic buildings.
Roxbury residents have been divided, with some arguing that they should be served by a trolley on Washington Street and that they do not need an additional link to the airport and others believing that the Silver Line will provide economic development.
The project's costs have grown from $750 million a few years ago to its current price tag, now estimated between $1.5 billion and $1.6 billion. The last official estimate, released in 2007, was $1.2 billion.
Last week's revelation that a $45 million MBTA station upgrade in Copley Square has cracked a 135-year-old historic landmark has heightened concerns among opponents.
"Look what happened to the Old South Church, a very small construction project by comparison, and they weren't even able to protect that building," said David Rosen, vice president of public affairs for Emerson College, which would be adjacent to the tunnel digging.
Mark Slater, vice president of the Bay Village Neighborhood Association, said the latest setback for the project is a golden opportunity to kill it for good.
"I wish they would just give it up and think about planning something that is actually a genuine needed piece of the transportation puzzle," Slater said.
Mayor Thomas M. Menino has supported the project, because it links several neighborhoods with the emerging South Boston Waterfront, in addition to connecting the two branches of the Silver Line. For instance, many riders on the Orange and Green lines who would now need to make more than one transfer to get to the airport or Seaport would be able to simply get on the Silver Line at Boylston or Chinatown.
The T is legally committed to building the last phase of the Silver Line under an environmental compact signed to mitigate the impacts of the Big Dig. But the agreement allows the state to substitute another urban project if necessary.
The lower rating "does make it a lot more difficult to get this project done," said Thomas J. Tinlin, Menino's transportation commissioner. "But at the same time, in these tough economic times, what city wouldn't want a billion dollars worth of construction investment? That's a lot of jobs, as well as the overall benefit of good public transportation in their city."
Noah Bierman can be reached at
nbierman@globe.com.
