Questions arise how T plans to fund $1b Silver Line project
By Noah Bierman, Globe Staff | October 14, 2008
With Big Dig construction still fresh in Bostonians' memories, the MBTA is embarking on a 1.1-mile bus tunnel adjacent to the Boston Common that critics are dubbing the "Little Dig" because of its escalating price tag and potential for disruption.
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority managers consider the project - a high-speed bus line that bridges the two existing Silver Line routes - a key link in the transit system that will better connect the Back Bay, Roxbury, and other neighborhoods with the emerging South Boston waterfront and Logan International Airport. But it has long been a contentious project, with critics saying it's too disruptive and costly for a bus line, even if it is designed to provide a fast ride that eludes downtown traffic for much of its journey.
The MBTA, which kept the project temporarily on hold, is now pushing forward, recently submitting a third price estimate to the Federal Transit Administration of well over $1 billion and promoting the tunnel to neighborhood groups ahead of a public comment period in the coming months. Among several big-ticket transit projects in the planning stages, it is the closest to getting federal matching dollars, with the T hoping for a final decision in 2010.
But as the T's financial situation grows more dire, questions over paying the state's share - more than half a billion dollars - are growing among neighborhood groups, specialists, and transit advocacy organiza tions.
"The people that rely on the T the most, people of low income and communities of color, would mainly be the ones paying for this project, and they can't afford it," said John Cater, a member of the T Riders Union, which is based in Roxbury.
The T is committed under a state environmental compact to build the third and final piece of the Silver Line, or a replacement urban project, to mitigate the impacts of the Big Dig.
The T estimates the new line, which connects the existing Washington Street route with the one between South Station and the airport, would add about 15,000 more riders a day to the T's existing totals of about 1.3 million. It would also let Green Line and Orange Line riders get to the airport and South Boston with fewer transfers.
Daniel A. Grabauskas, general manager of the MBTA, calls the Silver Line Phase III a good transit project, but does not explain how his agency can afford it, other than borrowing more money and hoping for a longer-term fix to the T's budget problems from the state government.
"One of the things that we're required to do is keep advancing the project under the legal obligations. We have, and we've made no secret that debt is one of the drivers of our financial problems and, realistically, this does not make things any better," he said.
The federal government will review over the next few months whether the T can afford its share of the project without cutting service on existing transit lines.
The price has escalated from $750 million a few years ago, to $1.2 billion as of last year. The T says those costs have risen again, but won't release the new estimate it submitted to federal transit officials, saying the numbers are not yet final. Even with what the T hopes is a 60 percent match from the federal government, the agency would be responsible for more than $500 million, in addition to covering all cost overruns.
The T is facing unprecedented financial problems, emptying reserve funds and raising parking rates last week just to pay salaries. Without help from the state, the T has warned of a major fare hike in 2009, in large part because 28 cents of every dollar it spends goes to paying off an $8.1 billion debt load from past expansion projects.
The project garners support among Mayor Thomas M. Menino and organizations like the Urban League and A Better City, a business group that helped advance the Big Dig.
"It's about creating more jobs and connecting people from where they live to where the jobs are going to be created," said Richard A. Dimino, A Better City's president.
Opponents include Emerson College, which could see construction out its front door for five years or more, as well as several neighborhood groups, including Bay Village, where homeowners worry their historic neighborhood could be literally torn apart by the tunneling.
Silver Line Phase III is the only remaining major transit expansion project designed to be paid for by the T. Others in the planning stages will be paid for directly by the state, without adding to the T's debt load.
"The T just flat out doesn't have half a billion dollars," said Paul Regan, executive director of the MBTA Advisory Board.
US Representative Michael E. Capuano, the Somerville Democrat who has long championed the project at the federal level, said last week that "funding issues are a major concern. It's an expensive project."
Capuano said the project may have to move "further back in the lane" in favor of expansion with a smaller budget.
"The T hasn't got a nickel," he said. "Never mind $1.2 billion."
The high cost of Silver Line Phase III is mainly due to tunneling in the heart of a dense city. Designs call for going deep underground, below the Big Dig along Essex Street and under the Green Line at Boylston Street. By comparison, the city of Charlotte, N.C., is proposing a 10.7-mile light rail project that is budgeted for $750 million, about half the cost of Silver Line Phase III.
Andrew Brennan, director of environmental affairs for the MBTA, said designers learned lessons from the Big Dig and will build an additional layer of waterproofing in an attempt to keep the tunnel walls drier.
"We're not saying there will be no leaks," Brennan said. "Certainly, every tunnel has leaks."
This tunnel will have additional controls, like instant notification systems so crews can quickly address leaks, he said.
Even with construction improvements, the legacy of the Big Dig still lurks in public discussion, he said. "It's the 'Little Dig.' It definitely has made it more difficult to build anything," he said.
The controversy surrounding the project goes back several years. In 2004, the Federal Transit Administration rated it as "not recommended" because of questions about how many new riders it would draw.
In 2005, Grabauskas suspended planning on the project, fearing community opposition would doom its chances for federal money. It was resurrected, rerouted to avoid New England Medical Center, and is now on track to begin construction by 2011.
Noah Bierman can be reached at
nbierman@globe.com.
