Green Line Extension Lechmere to Medford

They're still in the process of selecting station locations, identifying land that may have to be taken, and so on.

They need a fire lit under their asses, the T will always try to get out of it like the E & A lines.

Well, this isn't quite like Arborway, where the T is just plain against it because they don't want to bother with street running trolleys. Their attitude on this is kind of,
well, where's the money to build it? If you get us some we'll do it, but otherwise we'll just keep stringing things along, doing enough to mollify the people who say we're not doing anything. But don't blame the T; they don't write the budgets. Blame the politicians; they do.

A few reasons to be optimistic about the extension:

- The governor is behind it.

- Somerville has a very pro-rail mayor who was absolutely livid at the last delay and made it a huge deal until Deval Patrick relented on his "hey guys, here's some loose change I found in the State House, do your transit stuff with that...but make sure Silver Line Phase III gets first dibs!" approach to funding.

The only reason why the Silver line should get any attention before the Medford route is if they do the connection and put lightrail from Dudley to South Boston via downtown underground.

Rail extensions are more important than rubber tired projects

Aaaaaaaannnnnnd here comes the post-accident political opportunism aimed squarely at the Green Line extension.

Arborway wrote:Aaaaaaaannnnnnd here comes the post-accident political opportunism aimed squarely at the Green Line extension.

I can tell you now, all these politicans will change their tunes from anti-MBTA to pro-MBTA when gas prices hit $6, $10, or $15 per gallon. Then everybody will be crying for cheaper transportation, i.e. the MBTA. But then it'll be too late to alleviate the problem as it would take YEARS to build the necessary expansions, revonate the signalling system and completing the other track / trainset maintainence projects.

Railroads aren't the only infrastructure that is in dire need of repair and revonations. Many highway overpasses, urban bridges like Longfellow, the broken Big Dig stuff (remember the tunnel collapses a couple years ago?) and so on. Seriously, politicans need to stop pushing for more government spending on stuff like the Iraq war, Medicare, and other programs that don't exactly benefit the nation.

In fact, I heard at the current spending levels, our governmet will be so deep in debt in just a couple of decades. We're talking about a $50 TRILLION deficit!

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/03/28/federa ... index.html

The US is finished if it doesn't fix up its transportation infrastructure in the next couple of decades. Take MA for example. If we don't fix up the MBTA, do the MBTA expansion projects, and fix up bridges and tunnels, then people won't be able to go anywhere as bridges crumble into dust. Cars won't be able to pass over highways or rivers, trains will be crashing every week due to poor railbeds, people being unemployed due to not being able to afford sky high gas prices AND unable to peruse MBTA due to no MBTA expansion, etc.

A grim picture all around, indeed.

Indeed Veristek. Nobody realizes that we need to start working now so that things will be ready by the time people have no other choice.

Arborway wrote:Aaaaaaaannnnnnd here comes the post-accident political opportunism aimed squarely at the Green Line extension.

I very much doubt the opposition in the Legislature has got traction to slow anything down. Those are Republican legislators who are raising the stink, and their numbers are so diminished that the minority party can't override a veto at all and can't even throw a procedural wrench without locktight unity as a voting bloc (which I doubt they have on this issue). The Herald's just stirring up the @#$% by giving the naysayers equal time...not that it isn't a valid viewpoint, but a little perspective is in order here when you're weighing the balance of political clout.

saw people with support shirts today, in brookline.

maxman927 wrote:saw people with support shirts today, in brookline.

Shirts supporting the MBTA expansion?

Or shirts supporting the anti-MBTA crowd?

Veristek wrote:

maxman927 wrote:saw people with support shirts today, in brookline.

Shirts supporting the MBTA expansion?

expansion of course.

The shirt should say

We want the Medford line, Arborway and Watertown lines back NOW!!!

Geez.

I'm beginning to wonder if the City of Somerville should have sued Massachusetts for *monetary* damages, collected the cash, and used it to build the extension themselves, and then asked the MBTA to operate it.

Might have been done by now.

This line needs to be built with little or no parking, just a neighborhood route where people can walk to or bus to. Thats one reason Medford does not like the line. I read an article once from a resident near the wholefoods store over by the U-haul place and he was very anti green line saying "there is already to much traffic...blah blah" if there is no parking provided then how is this route going to cause more traffic???