Green Line Extension Lechmere to Medford

[Arborwayfan]

But very few people lived in the way of the Transcontinental Railroad, and the government was willing to shoot those who did if they got in the way. There were no established travel patterns to fit into, no expensive buildings or infrastructure to work around. Plenty of space to stage supplies and whatnot. No one to object to noise, dust, dirt, blocking the way into their store, flying rocks from blasting.

And despite all that, it took around fifteen years even to agree to start building. They only got around the political disagreements because a third of the country broke off and started a war.

And a lot of what they finished by 1869 was shoddy temporary stuff that had to be redone essentially immediately.

I agree that the GLX has taken longer than it needed to. But the UP and CP are not a good comparison. Politically, economically, personally, this is a harder project.

[bostontrainguy]

I agree that the GLX has taken longer than it needed to. But the UP and CP are not a good comparison. Politically, economically, personally, this is a harder project.

Oh come on! They own the ROW. They are simply moving two tracks over and restoring two tracks on an existing 4 track ROW for the most part. Not rocket science here.

I know I am greatly simplifying this for augment sake, but it's not like they are building a new subway or something. This should not be all that complicated.

Look at the astronomical expense for building Greenbush which again was a rather simple project to restore an existing rail line but got so mixed up in politics and mitigation that it will always be considered a financial boondoggle. http://www.patriotledger.com/news/20180 ... of-promise" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Arborwayfan]

I guess you have a point. I live out of town now and I keep forgetting that most of the work in on the RR right of way, not in streets and so on. I am willing to be corrected. Compare to the Transcontinental if you want. But it still might be better to compare to the Main Line El or the Tremont Street subway -- urban lines with lots of neighbors that still happened more quickly than this.

Yeah, the Greenbush line is a great example of why it is important to keep lines active if at all possible, because reopening them can be so hard.

[rethcir]

Alewife is a stone's throw from the MVP stop. There's no point to building another garage out there, because you'd have to drive past it either way. (The garage at Alewife will get sorted out quick - way too important to rt 2 commuters).

Not a lot of point to going out to 128 right now.. Spend that double tracking and electrification money on electrifying the Lowell Line CR instead.

[Arlington]

If they do go to Mystic Valley Parkway, it would amazing if some of the bus routes in the area (i.e. those serving West Medford or even Medford Square) served the station or provided reasonable access to it.

Outer 80, 94 and 96 are ready to go.
Outer 95, 134, and 326 can't stay as they are and should somehow tie to College Ave (and Davis, while they're at it)
Inner 80, 87, ad 88 between Davis/Powderhouse & Lechmere is going to change radically; it is just a little hard to say exactly how

MVP will also have really good bike connections along Alewife to Arlington and out the MVP to Winchester.

And, yes, the real solution from MVP "outward" is electrification and clockface scheduling out to Anderson Woburn (and a tunnel w/freight passing under Medford Sq)

[BandA]

Probably more important to extend the Red Line to 128 in Lexington or Burlington than to extend the Green Line to Woburn, which already has Commuter Rail service. But depends on what is possible to cobble together.

[l008com]

Probably more important to extend the Red Line to 128 in Lexington or Burlington than to extend the Green Line to Woburn, which already has Commuter Rail service. But depends on what is possible to cobble together.

It's so frustrating when I read about how they wanted to extend them all to 128 back in the day, but the Nimby's took over. Although when I read that, I still suspect that at least to some degree, Nimby-ism was used as an excuse to cover a lack of willingness to spend all that extra money. But all that said, based solely on the neighborhood reaction, I feel like Blue or Green up the lowell to Anderson is much more likely than Red up the Minuteman Bikeway. In fact, that might be the least likely of all possible subway extensions to happen. But this is wayyyyy off topic.

Back on topic slightly. That new freight connector in somerville isn't going to see a hell of a lot of freight trains... two a day? But with that big dog park right next to it, that's going to be an awesome place to watch freight and hang out with doggos!

[bostontrainguy]

Back on topic slightly. That new freight connector in somerville isn't going to see a hell of a lot of freight trains... two a day? But with that big dog park right next to it, that's going to be an awesome place to watch freight and hang out with doggos!

Until the dog owners complain loudly that the trains are scaring their dogs and should be restricted to night time use only.

[l008com]

Well "lucky" for them, the trains are already night time only.

[CRail]

Freight trains and dog parks have nothing to do with the MBTA or GLX construction.
Further posts in this thread pertaining to either have been and will be deleted.

[l008com]

Are there any official maps or plot plans for this project available online anywhere?

[Arlington]

Official Repository:
Greenlineextension.eot.state.ma.us
Particularly:
http://greenlineextension.eot.state.ma. ... ments.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Advocacy maps:
Somervillestep.org
Filtered to GLX
http://www.somervillestep.org/category/green-line/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[jamesinclair]

Probably more important to extend the Red Line to 128 in Lexington or Burlington than to extend the Green Line to Woburn, which already has Commuter Rail service. But depends on what is possible to cobble together.

Extending the Green line to Woburn would allow the commuter rail to bypass Wedgemere and Winchester and run express for a significant distance. That would be good. Of course it would also restore the service that Woburn lost many years ago

[l008com]

I'm thinking it would be a big hit with people commuting down from NH. Instead of going all the way in to the city, just pull off 93 and hop right on the 'subway'. Of course in my vision, it's blue line not green line.

[rethcir]

Way too late in the project to expect anything other than what is in the GLX project already. Unless you want to blow the project up for the nth time.