Route 16 station petition shows growing support
The Medford Green Line Neighborhood Alliance’s petition in favor of the Route 16 station on the Green Line extension continues to garner support, even with no active solicitation for the last two years.
With more than 2,100 names on the online petition, and another 600-plus on paper petitions, the number of supporters is approaching 3,000. The MGNA presented more than 2,000 signatures in support of the Route 16 station to state and local officials in August 2008.
A recent signer of the online petition, Arn Franzen of Arlington, summed up the case for the Route 16 station well, commenting:
“I am a West Medford property owner (138-140 Harvard Ave.) and community supporter, and my wife is a daily rider of the T from West Medford. The new Route 16 station will serve as a vital transportation link for West Medford, Somerville, and Arlington residents, and will connect the T to the new DCR Alewife Brook Path, the Minuteman Trail, and the trail along the Mystic River, which will soon connect to connect to the new Orange Line station at Assembly Square. The inclusion of the Route 16 terminus represents the real potential for MassDOT to provide needed mass transit to a huge portion of the community that will be otherwise disenfranchised – as much of W. Medford has been historically.”
MassDOT has endorsed the Route 16 station as its “Proposed Full-Build Alternative.” However, citing the lack of funds to build the Route 16 leg of the extension, MassDOT intends to construct that portion in a second phase of the project, after extending the line to College Avenue/Boston Avenue in Phase I. By its own estimates, delaying the Route 16 station to a second phase will increase the cost by $50 million.
If you support the Route 16 station and have yet to sign the petition, you can do so here.
