MGNA: Medford Green Line Neighborhood Alliance

MassDOT today posted its monthly status report on the Green Line Extension project, to be presented to the Boston Metropolitan Planning Organization on Thursday.

Here are some highlights of new information added since the January status report:

+ In the coming months, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) will complete its review and ranking of MassDOT’s submittal to the New Starts capital funding program, and is expected to issue the approval for the MBTA to enter the Preliminary Engineering phase of the project and to issue a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI), both of which are critical activities.

+ Reaching resolution of the design moving forward is still required with Somerville at Gilman Square Station. [ Washington Street Station removed ]

+ Roadway design at Lechmere, which is being performed by the HYM development team, continues to be an item of discussion with certain members of the East Cambridge neighborhood.

+ Design of three bridges (School Street, Lowell Street, and Broadway) is now progressing and type studies and roadway plans have now been submitted to MassDOT for review.

+ Design of the stations also continues, while station-specific alternatives on emergency egress continue to be discussed with state public safety officials. It is anticipated that variances will be required for four of the station locations.

+ Detailed design work is ongoing on a Phase 1 Early Bridge/Demolition package that includes the widening of two railroad bridges to accommodate the additional Green Line tracks and the demolition of the MBTA tire storage building at 21 Water Street in the Lechmere area to provide parking and staging area for the Phase 2/2A work.

+ Survey, property issues, drainage design and retaining wall design are all being worked on and advanced along with coordination with the cities and the abutters. A public meeting to review the scope of that contract was held on January 25, 2012. It is expected that the bidding for the work will occur over the spring and summer of 2012 and construction would begin in fall of 2012.

+ A potential change in the program delivery methodology is still being evaluated.

Read the February status report.

The Metropolitan Area Planning Council has posted to its website the final report from the Green Line Extension Route 16 Visioning Study, as well as all public comment letters received on the draft report.

For 9 months in 2011, MAPC worked with the cities of Medford and Somerville to gather community input on the possibility of extending the Green Line to Mystic Valley Parkway/Route 16, and to study potential land uses and transit-oriented developments in the area.

The report includes summaries of the 5 community meetings held during the Visioning Study as well as MAPC’s recommendations for the area surrounding the proposed Green Line Extension station on Mystic Valley Parkway in Somerville near the Medford line.