Green Line Extension Lechmere to Medford

Well, maybe they should extend to 128 like they ought to do. I'm SURE they could find plenty of space for parking in Woburn. The HUGE mishuwam parknride lot would have been a good one...

I don't think they should go any further, this line is to support two former BERY cities. I feel the T should aim more transit within their origial 13 towns and cities. If you build a line like that to Woburn then the poor people of Somerville who have been waiting and crying for this will have no room on the cars by the time they come in from Woburn

Good show Mike a new bus route/or bus rapid can be done from Woburn or even further north to connect to the new green would be ok

savebowdoin wrote: The Blue Line to Lynn/Salem is a more realistic expansion, as they aren't at maximum capacity and could handle an express track to at least Revere.

My off topic post... The Blue Line is AT capacity! And adding 2 cars this fall will not help. Ride the line at rush hour now... Now no more off topic chat

wow, an off topic comment...oh nooooo what will we do.

I feel they can build a new line without investing in any parking... the E/B/C don't have any kind of T parking lots. This needs to be a local community line.

If we're not getting any new parking on the Medford extension, then I'd like to request an additional extension up the o'l stoneham branch so I can walk to the station.

I've flipped through the green line extension web site and haven't seen any mention of parking. It seems very stupid to me, to extend a line into the suburbs, and not put parking lots there so people can actually use it.

l008com wrote: I've flipped through the green line extension web site and haven't seen any mention of parking. It seems very stupid to me, to extend a line into the suburbs, and not put parking lots there so people can actually use it.

90% of the D Line refutes your argument.

Throw in a good number of busy suburban stops on the Orange, Red and Blue, too.

There are no T parking lots at Davis or Porter stations. They seem to be doing just fine.

Porter and Davis have major bus connections. I would hope that the Medford-area bus routes will be modified where practical to serve the Green Line extension.

But those stations aren't end of lines. And West Medford (which is not happening anyway at this point) is more suburbs, somerville is much more city.

But I wanted to change gears anyway. I just had an even BETTER idea that is not going to happen. The green line to union square... leave that plan as is. Then, extended the BLUE line, yes BLUE line, up the lowell line as far as possible.

Meet my new wish list

And yes, build parking lots so us suburbanites can actually get to the trains.

6/2/08 Meeting Minutes
According to page 6 of this document, the current plan is to extend the D branch through Union Square and to extend the E Branch through Medford.
If they choose to go with the "loop" option at Union Square, wouldn't that completely mess up the headways of the line that currently has the best, and the headways on the Medford extension could be bad, with the problems that can occur all the way back during the street-running section of the E Branch. The other problem that I see with this, is that the T needs to get around to running the Type 8's on Riverside, because wouldn't a new extension need to be ADA compliant, which the "loop" proposal using Type 7's would not be?

Philip Wirth wrote:6/2/08 Meeting Minutes
According to page 6 of this document, the current plan is to extend the D branch through Union Square and to extend the E Branch through Medford.
If they choose to go with the "loop" option at Union Square, wouldn't that completely mess up the headways of the line that currently has the best, and the headways on the Medford extension could be bad, with the problems that can occur all the way back during the street-running section of the E Branch. The other problem that I see with this, is that the T needs to get around to running the Type 8's on Riverside, because wouldn't a new extension need to be ADA compliant, which the "loop" proposal using Type 7's would not be?

Well, they are suppose to get type 8 for the d line months ago, at the least, it should come by the time the expansion is completed anyway.

ant8904 wrote:Well, they are suppose to get type 8 for the d line months ago, at the least, it should come by the time the expansion is completed anyway.

We can only hope.

ant8904 wrote:

Philip Wirth wrote:6/2/08 Meeting Minutes
According to page 6 of this document, the current plan is to extend the D branch through Union Square and to extend the E Branch through Medford.
If they choose to go with the "loop" option at Union Square, wouldn't that completely mess up the headways of the line that currently has the best, and the headways on the Medford extension could be bad, with the problems that can occur all the way back during the street-running section of the E Branch. The other problem that I see with this, is that the T needs to get around to running the Type 8's on Riverside, because wouldn't a new extension need to be ADA compliant, which the "loop" proposal using Type 7's would not be?

Well, they are suppose to get type 8 for the d line months ago, at the least, it should come by the time the expansion is completed anyway.

The loop option sounds a little convoluted to implement because of land-taking. Stub-end on the Fitchburg with tail tracks, compromise option as it is Square access-wise, at least fits on the existing ROW without problems. Yeah, the electrical substation is there and it's butt ugly, but isn't that easier property to build around than diverting off the ROW with residential/commercial land-taking. That just seems like a born delay to the project...get the friggin' trains running by keeping it simple! There's also no way you can extend one of the westbound lines out there with any amount of street or reservation-running. I also wouldn't want any alignment that precludes an extension to Porter tacked on later, because the Porter/Davis area will be screaming for it as soon as the shovels hit the ground and that really is the natural terminus because of the bus/Red/CR connections. It would also be cheap to do the rest of the jaunt once you get as far as Union.

I also think they can fit in that second Brickbottom station by maybe swapping it off the Lowell ROW onto the Fitchburg ROW right after the junction, putting it at McGrath and the shopping center, and building good ped access to the other side. Just a thought...would balance the branches a little so the West Medford one doesn't have one too many stations and the Union one too few.

Encouraging that D line speeds are projected for the area!

I have a few questions I've been wondering about.

1. West Medford has a CR stop in it, right? So why can't the T run a Green Line extension from Somerville to the CR station kinda like what existed at Arborway / Forest Hills?

2. If ROW and space is a problem, then why not do elevated rail? A post-modern elevated rail structure with just one pylon holding up two tracks instead of 2 pylons holding up the trackbed. Then it can be set up in the median of roads without impacting traffic. Cheaper than tunneling, I think.

3. Speaking of tunnels, would the NIMBYS go for a tunnel extension instead of street running or elevated rail?

4. Can't they do a very simple turnaround at Union Station like what they do at Heath Street, Lechmere, Clevland Circle, and Boston College?