Green Line Extension to Medford & Union Sq

Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

BussesAin'tTrains said:
Out of curiosity, how would you fund DOT without raising taxes?
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Presumably either by cutting expenses somewhere else in the budget and redirecting the money into DOT, user fees on new construction (especially new road projects, most of which should be tolled going forward), or some combination of the two.

Of course, cutting expenses elsewhere pisses off whoever you just cut, and redirecting the money instead of lowering taxes just pisses off the less taxes/spending crowd anyway, so it's not a realistic proposition. The public perception of roads is still largely that they're free as beer, so legislation requiring a toll/revenue component attached to all new road projects above $X price going forward (and retroactive to include the Big Dig) isn't liable to get anywhere either.

A measured, balanced approach that combines new revenues with cuts and rebalanced spending priorities is the best approach, but pisses off mostly everyone as opposed to only certain groups.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

The problem with tolling most highways (unless you're talking about tolling ALL state roadways), is that the Feds have to approve new tolls on Interstate Highways, and they're unlikely to do so.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

BussesAin'tTrains said:
The problem with tolling most highways (unless you're talking about tolling ALL state roadways), is that the Feds have to approve new tolls on Interstate Highways, and they're unlikely to do so.
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I beg to differ.

And frankly, some road projects (like the I-Way or CT-11) needed to and need to happen, but are far too costly to be built without some sort of revenue generator attached to them.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

Commuting Boston Student said:
I beg to differ.

And frankly, some road projects (like the I-Way or CT-11) needed to and need to happen, but are far too costly to be built without some sort of revenue generator attached to them.
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Okay... That authorizes three... any word on if it will be expanded? Otherwise, what good is it?
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

Wasn't a portion of the sales tax (increase?) supposed to go to funding MassDOT/the MBTA but never did?
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

datadyne007 said:
Wasn't a portion of the sales tax (increase?) supposed to go to funding MassDOT/the MBTA but never did?
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It does go to transportation funding, but the calculation was based upon projected increases in sales tax revenues that never materialized.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

BostonUrbEx beat me to it. There's a flagger in the picture. He would have stopped everyone from working for about 2 minutes prior to a train approaching.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

Indeed - forgive me. Clearly they are waiting for the train, and I should have been able to resist the cheap shot.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

Don't be surprised if you go down there when a train isn't approaching and they still aren't doing anything. I had a long time to observe them redoing Ashmont Station and there was plenty of inaction.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

gooseberry said:
Don't be surprised if you go down there when a train isn't approaching and they still aren't doing anything. I had a long time to observe them redoing Ashmont Station and there was plenty of inaction.
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Well then, why don't you go down there and supervise them instead of making armchair assumptions on the work they may or may not be doing?
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

Someone should get them some iPads so they can spend their workdays like us, searching through archboston.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

Finding ways to pump up the overblown cost even more.
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

GLX was awarded to White/Skanska/Kiewit Joint Venture. It's a CMGC contract. That basically means the contractor helps the state's designer come up with the design. And then has first chance to bid the project if he can come within 10% of an independent estimator's budget for the job.
It's a stupid procurement method that gives you none of the flexibility of a Design-Build with all of the opacity (i.e., potential for corruption).

So we've got a couple years of design ahead of us....
 
Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011

Ball Square station needed some redesign recently when they discovered an NStar utility easement that would be hard to remove or relocate.
 
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