MGNA: Medford Green Line Neighborhood Alliance

After years of underfunding transportation projects, and almost two years after federal transit and highway authorities rejected the state’s 2008-2011 transportation plans, the commonwealth is scrambling to secure federal approval and, hopefully, funding this year.

Meanwhile, delays translate to millions in increased costs, and the long-awaited Green Line extension to Somerville and Medford is now estimated at $1.119 billion, including a delayed Route 16 station in Medford (in federal fiscal years, the spending is now estimated as follows: $49 million in 2010, $885 million in 2011-2015, and $185 million in 2016-2020).

“My main concern about the Green Line coming here is whether it will really happen,” said local transportation advocate Bill Shelton from the Mystic View Task Force, worried that the state is broke and may not be able to make its deadlines to keep the project on track.

While local and state legislators continue to push for the project, they are not happy about the Route 16 being pushed back to a second phase that won’t be completed by the 2014 deadline. In the meantime, the Green Line will stop at College Avenue.

“I don’t believe that stopping at College Avenue meets the requirements of the state’s legal obligation to our communities,” said state Rep. Carl Sciortino, D-Medford. “It’s also a big jump in cost, but the longer we wait, the more expensive it gets.”

Read the Somerville Journal article.

View the Somerville Transportation Equity Partnership Green Line timeline.

The next meeting of the Medford Green Line Neighborhood Alliance will be at 7 p.m. on Thursday, July 30, at Boloco, 340 Boston Avenue.

Among the agenda items will be an update on recent project developments and preparation for the upcoming public comment period on the Draft Environmetnal Impact Report for the Green Line extension, which will be filed next month.

The Medford Green Line Neighborhood Alliance is a group of citizens who support the proposed Green Line extension to Medford, and who advocate for proactive involvement from the city, its residents and all stakeholders to ensure that the extension is completed in a manner that is most beneficial to the community.

Representatives from leading transportation groups have given the 2009 Pride Month Special Recognition Award to

The award recognizes his sponsorship of H.1728, An Act Relative to Gender-Based Discrimination and Hate Crimes, which adds transgender people to the state’s civil rights statutes. 

“We appreciate the work Rep. Sciortino is doing to protect the rights of transit employees and GLBT community,” said James Aloisi, secretary of the Executive Office of Transportation. “We are proud to recognize his continued efforts in the fight for equality.” 

The award comes from the Partners in Transportation, a transit coalition, which includes the Mass Turnpike Authority, MBTA, MBCR, Massachusetts Executive Office of Transportation and

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