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State Agrees to Design Link between Red and Blue lines
Deal is struck on transit suit
By Mac Daniel, Globe Staff | November 30, 2006
State officials reversed course yesterday and agreed to design a $264 million tunnel connecting the MBTA's Blue and Red Line subways as part of a lawsuit settlement over the state's list of planned public transit projects.
The controversial tunnel, which would link the Blue Line's Government Center station with the Red Line's Charles/MGH station, was pulled last year from the list of transit projects designed to offset pollution from the Big Dig, prompting the lawsuit from the Conservation Law Foundation, which accused the state of reneging on promised projects. The state agreed to complete the final design, expected to cost $30 million, but did not promise to build the connector.
The settlement also essentially kills a proposal to return trolleys to the Arborway in Jamaica Plain. Instead, the state promised to explore possible improvements to existing public transit in that neighborhood. The controversial plan to return Green Line service has been repeatedly put off by both the city and the MBTA, which called it unbuildable.
The agreement guarantees that the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority will complete major projects that were already on the list, including extending the Green Line to Medford and Somerville, adding 1,000 parking spaces at commuter rail stations, and overhauling the Fairmount commuter rail line, which runs through three neighborhoods where many residents depend on mass transit: Dorchester, Mattapan, and Roxbury.
The agreement also calls for completion of the Greenbush commuter rail line, which is set to open next year, and of the ongoing modernization and platform lengthening on the Blue Line to accommodate six-car trains, which have been delayed for three years in a dispute with the manufacturer of 94 new cars.
Under the settlement, if any project is delayed, the state is required to come up with an alternative that produces more improvements in air quality than the promised project. Also, substitute projects must be built in the same towns and cities where the original projects were proposed.
"We felt very strongly about the commitments we made," said Andrew Gottlieb, chief of the Office for Commonwealth Development. "I don't think it would have been appropriate for us to leave this hanging. I can't imagine a subsequent administration coming up with a better set of projects. This makes it clear to the incoming administration what needs to happen."
Phil Warburg, president of the Conservation Law Foundation, said he was pleased with the settlement, which forces the state to include funding for all the projects in its construction plan and, for the first time, sets interim and final deadlines. It also calls for more public participation in planning and construction of the projects.
"It was a guessing game as to just how far behind the Commonwealth had fallen," Warburg said. "Now we will have some very specific mileposts that can be used to hold the Commonwealth accountable and to ensure real progress."
The deal appears to finally end years of uncertainty and controversy.
The Conservation Law Foundation first received the transit commitments from the state in 1990, when it threatened to sue to stop the $14.6 billion Big Dig tunnel and highway project. The foundation and state continued to battle as the project list was revised. State officials said the new projects they pledged last year would double the air quality gains and be more cost effective. The foundation had recently been sparring with the Commonwealth over air quality statistics that would have been a vital part of the lawsuit and which both sides say would have been a time-consuming and expensive issue to resolve.
The agreement is contingent on the US Environmental Protection Agency, which enforces the federal Clean Air Act, approving the state's revised transit plan. Once it is approved, foundation officials said, they will formally drop the lawsuit.
But US Representative Michael E. Capuano, Democrat of Somerville, said yesterday he was worried by the fine print, which allows the Executive Office of Transportation to propose substitute projects for the Fairmount and Green Line improvements.
"If this is actually as it reads, it leaves a humongous back door for EOT, and EOT has a long history on the Big Dig mitigation projects of taking that back door," he said. "I absolutely guarantee that they will take it again. Maybe I'm misreading it, but the plain English reading of it certainly raises a huge question that I plan on taking up with everybody, especially the EPA. I hope I'm wrong."
Under the settlement, design for the Red Line-Blue Line connector is scheduled to be complete by 2011. State officials have said the 0.4-mile project -- linking East Boston, Revere, Winthrop, and Lynn with the MBTA's central subway line -- was too costly and unnecessary with the completion of Silver Line bus service from South Station to Logan International Airport.
The state also faces pressure from Partners HealthCare and its affiliate, Massachusetts General Hospital, which had also threatened to sue the state for not building the Red Line-Blue Line connector. The suit has not been filed.
Officials at Partners, among the state's largest employers, said the connector would be a vital link for more than 19,000 hospital employees.
"MGH gets more patients from Revere than any other community, and it has more employees from Revere than any other community," said Thomas P. Glynn, chief operating officer of Partners, which built a satellite clinic in Revere and additional facilities at MGH after the connector was promised.
"I think we'll try to work with the state and make our best case," he said.
State Senator Jarrett T. Barrios, who represents portions of Somerville that will benefit from the Green Line extension, said the agreement promises better service to commuters, who in January will get hit by the third T fare increase in seven years.
Somerville, one the nation's most densely populated communities, is currently served by just one stop, on the Red Line. The Green Line extension could add stations at Union Square, Brickbottom, and College Avenue near Tufts University.
"The extraordinary increases in subway fares are making it increasingly costly to ride mass transit," Barrios said. "This smart investment of tax dollars will increase ridership and hopefully make it less necessary in the future to raise fares."
Mac Daniel can be reached at mdaniel@globe.com.
? Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.
Deal is struck on transit suit
By Mac Daniel, Globe Staff | November 30, 2006
State officials reversed course yesterday and agreed to design a $264 million tunnel connecting the MBTA's Blue and Red Line subways as part of a lawsuit settlement over the state's list of planned public transit projects.
The controversial tunnel, which would link the Blue Line's Government Center station with the Red Line's Charles/MGH station, was pulled last year from the list of transit projects designed to offset pollution from the Big Dig, prompting the lawsuit from the Conservation Law Foundation, which accused the state of reneging on promised projects. The state agreed to complete the final design, expected to cost $30 million, but did not promise to build the connector.
The settlement also essentially kills a proposal to return trolleys to the Arborway in Jamaica Plain. Instead, the state promised to explore possible improvements to existing public transit in that neighborhood. The controversial plan to return Green Line service has been repeatedly put off by both the city and the MBTA, which called it unbuildable.
The agreement guarantees that the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority will complete major projects that were already on the list, including extending the Green Line to Medford and Somerville, adding 1,000 parking spaces at commuter rail stations, and overhauling the Fairmount commuter rail line, which runs through three neighborhoods where many residents depend on mass transit: Dorchester, Mattapan, and Roxbury.
The agreement also calls for completion of the Greenbush commuter rail line, which is set to open next year, and of the ongoing modernization and platform lengthening on the Blue Line to accommodate six-car trains, which have been delayed for three years in a dispute with the manufacturer of 94 new cars.
Under the settlement, if any project is delayed, the state is required to come up with an alternative that produces more improvements in air quality than the promised project. Also, substitute projects must be built in the same towns and cities where the original projects were proposed.
"We felt very strongly about the commitments we made," said Andrew Gottlieb, chief of the Office for Commonwealth Development. "I don't think it would have been appropriate for us to leave this hanging. I can't imagine a subsequent administration coming up with a better set of projects. This makes it clear to the incoming administration what needs to happen."
Phil Warburg, president of the Conservation Law Foundation, said he was pleased with the settlement, which forces the state to include funding for all the projects in its construction plan and, for the first time, sets interim and final deadlines. It also calls for more public participation in planning and construction of the projects.
"It was a guessing game as to just how far behind the Commonwealth had fallen," Warburg said. "Now we will have some very specific mileposts that can be used to hold the Commonwealth accountable and to ensure real progress."
The deal appears to finally end years of uncertainty and controversy.
The Conservation Law Foundation first received the transit commitments from the state in 1990, when it threatened to sue to stop the $14.6 billion Big Dig tunnel and highway project. The foundation and state continued to battle as the project list was revised. State officials said the new projects they pledged last year would double the air quality gains and be more cost effective. The foundation had recently been sparring with the Commonwealth over air quality statistics that would have been a vital part of the lawsuit and which both sides say would have been a time-consuming and expensive issue to resolve.
The agreement is contingent on the US Environmental Protection Agency, which enforces the federal Clean Air Act, approving the state's revised transit plan. Once it is approved, foundation officials said, they will formally drop the lawsuit.
But US Representative Michael E. Capuano, Democrat of Somerville, said yesterday he was worried by the fine print, which allows the Executive Office of Transportation to propose substitute projects for the Fairmount and Green Line improvements.
"If this is actually as it reads, it leaves a humongous back door for EOT, and EOT has a long history on the Big Dig mitigation projects of taking that back door," he said. "I absolutely guarantee that they will take it again. Maybe I'm misreading it, but the plain English reading of it certainly raises a huge question that I plan on taking up with everybody, especially the EPA. I hope I'm wrong."
Under the settlement, design for the Red Line-Blue Line connector is scheduled to be complete by 2011. State officials have said the 0.4-mile project -- linking East Boston, Revere, Winthrop, and Lynn with the MBTA's central subway line -- was too costly and unnecessary with the completion of Silver Line bus service from South Station to Logan International Airport.
The state also faces pressure from Partners HealthCare and its affiliate, Massachusetts General Hospital, which had also threatened to sue the state for not building the Red Line-Blue Line connector. The suit has not been filed.
Officials at Partners, among the state's largest employers, said the connector would be a vital link for more than 19,000 hospital employees.
"MGH gets more patients from Revere than any other community, and it has more employees from Revere than any other community," said Thomas P. Glynn, chief operating officer of Partners, which built a satellite clinic in Revere and additional facilities at MGH after the connector was promised.
"I think we'll try to work with the state and make our best case," he said.
State Senator Jarrett T. Barrios, who represents portions of Somerville that will benefit from the Green Line extension, said the agreement promises better service to commuters, who in January will get hit by the third T fare increase in seven years.
Somerville, one the nation's most densely populated communities, is currently served by just one stop, on the Red Line. The Green Line extension could add stations at Union Square, Brickbottom, and College Avenue near Tufts University.
"The extraordinary increases in subway fares are making it increasingly costly to ride mass transit," Barrios said. "This smart investment of tax dollars will increase ridership and hopefully make it less necessary in the future to raise fares."
Mac Daniel can be reached at mdaniel@globe.com.
? Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.
