Following are links to a selection of current transportation projects affecting Somerville.
Assembly Square Orange Line T-Stop Project |
Summary: New stop proposed in Assembly Square, between Sullivan Square and Wellington.
Time Frame: To be finished in 2014.
Funding: $50,000,000 secured.
Status:
- (1/23/10) Second head house is now in the 30% design.
- 30% Design Progress public meeting scheduled for 1/12/10.
- Somerville Housing and Community Development Committee is looking into ways to support a second entrance (head house) to the Assembly Square T-Stop.
- Design in progress.
|
Monitor:
- Funding for Assembly Line T-Stop.
- T-Stop design elements.
- Progress on T-Stop.
- Air pollution in neighborhood.
|
Background:
|
Risks:
- Loss of funding due to inattention.
- Inadequate design (only one head house, convoluted access to IKEA from T-Stop).
|
Mitigation:
- Continue advocacy for transit funding through Boston MPO and MBTA.
- Advocate for 2nd head house and other design elements that will help Assembly Square development.
|
Community Transportation Technical Assistance Program |
Summary: Pilot program sponsored by Central Transportation Planning Staff anf Metropolitan Area Planning Council to provide technical advice on local transportation issues to municipal officials.
Time Frame: Ongoing
Status: Pilot program in Wrentham MA. |
Monitor: This is a project that could serve as a model for Somerville activities, particularly the transportation mitigation program in Assembly Square. |
Background:
Article in MPO TransReport, Nov. 2009 (PDF) . |
Risks: Somerville may fail to take advantage of this program. |
| Mitigation: Publicize it. |
Green Line Extension to Porter Square Proposal |
Summary: New stops at Dane Street, Lowell Street, and Porter Square.
Time Frame: 8-15 years
Status:
History:
Proposals made, being discussed. No funding. |
Monitor:
- Status of proposals.
- DIscussions of funding.
|
Background:
|
Risks:
- Continued lack of trolley service through South Somerville.
- Loss of economic development potential.
|
| Mitigation: Continue advocacy for transit support through Community Corridor Planning process. |
Green Line Extension to Somerville Project |
Summary: New stops proposed at Union Square, Inner Belt / Brickbottom, Gilman Square, Lowell Street, Ball Square, College Avenue, Mystic Valley Parkway / Route 16.
Time Frame: 5 years
Status: Option L accepted as preferred choice by DOT. (6/16/10) Green Line Extension FEIR released for public comment.
Dates:
- (6/30/10) Public meeting on FEIR scheduled.
- (7/23/10) End of FEIR public comment period.
- (12/31/14) Planned completion date.
History:
- (6/16/10) Green Line Extension FEIR posted.
- (6/13/10) Last of three Green Line Extension land use workshops held in combination with Comprehensive Plan meeting. Option L accepted as DOT preferred choice, eliciting protests from affected businesses.
- (1/19/10) DEIR Certificate issued; FEIR required on specific issues. Rt. 16 T-Stop proposed to be deferred to Phase 2.
- STEP workshops for design professionals planned.
- (1/23/10) DEIR Certificate Issued. MPO Scope of Work for FEIR development issued.
- (1/1/10) Latest proposal includes Mirror H (Somerville City Government's prefered) and Option L (closest to existing Boston Engine Terminal. DEIR comments due 1/8/10.
- MBTA still pushing maintenance facility at Yard 8, next to Brickbottom.
- Draft DEIR released 10/16/09.
- Green Line Extension is in Amended Regional Transportation Plan ($1 B) and in 2010-2013 TIP.
- Federal Transit Authority New Starts Application, Fall 2009.
- Community Corridor Steering Committee formed, initial meeting 9/22/09.
- Station location program and siting done
- Design of Green Line vehicles done
- Alternatives analysis done
- Design done
- Cost estimates done, being reviewed by Federal Transportation Administration
- Construction staging plans done, being reviewed by Federal Transportation Administration
- Real estate requirements analysis done
- Neighborhood workshops in process.
Funding: Massachusetts state funding available for extension to College Avenue (Phase I). Highway funding is being flexed to apply to Phase II (Mystic Valley Parkway/Route 16). |
Monitor:
- Location of Maintenance Facility.
- Land uses adjacent to Maintenance Facility and in air rights.
- Protests by businesses displaced by Maintenance Facility.
- Status of Green Line Extension to each stop
- Response of neighborhood to Green Line Extension.
- Implications for neighborhood economic development
- Implications for environmental improvement.
|
Background:
For more on the planning process, see MPO Transportation Improvement Plan Process |
Risks:
- Opposition from affected businesses and neighborhoods.
- Construction methodology and schedule.
- Loss of funding due to inattention.
- Unsustainable neighborhood development proposals.
- Attempts to delay or cancel the project by claiming that air quality improvements outside Somerville help Somerville. The original end date was 2011.
|
Mitigation:
- Continue advocacy for transit support through Community Corridor Planning process.
- Analyze implications of neighborhood development proposals and respond as necessary.
- Hold the state to the 2014 completion date.
|
MBTA Red Line / Blue Line Connector Project |
Summary: Proposed underground link between MBTA Blue Line and Red Line at Charles Street, improving access to North Shore from Somerville.
Time Frame: Not scheduled. New ENF required if does not begin construction within 5 years.
Dates: (12/31/11) Design complete.
Funding: Not in current Regional Transportation Plan.
Status: Design underway. FEIR required. Preferred alternative closes Bowdoin Station (now on reduced hours).
History:
- (5/28/10) DEIR Certificate Issued by EEOA.
- (3/31/10) Draft EIR for Red Line-Blue Line Connector issued. FEIR of limited scope required.
- Contract awarded Summer 2009.
- Request for Proposals for environmental reviews and engineering filed 3/27/08.
- Expanded Environmental Notification Form file 9/14/07.
|
Monitor:
- Required funding.
- Design completion
- Progress of rest of project
|
Background:
|
Risks:
- Continued inconvenient access to North Shore from Somerville.
- Lack of funding.
|
Mitigation:
- Advocate for funding.
- Evaluate proposals.
- Evaluate associated development proposals for sustainability.
|
Rutherford Avenue / Sullivan Square Redesign Project |
Summary: Redesign of Sullivan Square area, including T-Stop and proposed elimination of Rutherford Avenue overpass.
Time Frame: 1-5 years
Status:
- (1/1/10) Design project public hearing scheduled for 1/13/10. There have been several such meetings over the past year.
- Design in process, community input being sought.
|
Monitor:
- It is probably desirable to eliminate the Rutherford Avenue overpass to reduce neighborhood impacts.
- Transit access from Somerville.
- Traffic in Somerville.
|
Background:
Rutherford Avenue bridge unsafe and now closed. |
Risks:
- Inadequate support for Somerville transit riders.
- Diverting traffic into Somerville.
- Traffic disrupting Broadway and Assembly Square.
|
| Mitigation: Analyze proposals, continue to advocate for Somerville interests. |
Somerville Community Path Extension Project |
Summary: Currently the Somerville Community Path connects with the Linear Path at Davis Square and ends at Cedar Street. The proposal is to extend it along the train right-of-way to the Inner Belt area and on into Boston.
Time Frame: 2-7 years
Status:
- Demolition of the existing rails from Cedar Street to around Central Street is being done as part of the MaxPack development near Lowell Street. Bike path contamination may be an issue.
- As of 5/09, extension from Cedar Street to Central to bid Fall 2010, construction to begin Spring 2011.
- Phase 1 Construction included in FY 2011 Draft Transportation Improvement Plan
|
Monitor:
- Possible contamination from the MaxPak project, which requires brownfields mitigation.
- Progress on project, which has been delayed due to lack of funding.
|
Background:
|
Risks:
- Lack of funding.
- Legal liability issues.
- Contamination due to adjacent construction (cf. MaxPack).
- Integration with Green Line Extension.
|
Mitigation:
- Continue advocating for funding.
- Develop solutions to liability issues.
- Advocate for good integration with Green Line Extension.
|
Urban Ring Project |
Summary: Bus rapid transit route connecting existing T-stops through the following communities: East Boston, Chelsea, Everett, Somerville, Cambridge, Brookline, Roxbury, South Boston.
Time Frame: 10-15 years
Status:
- (2/10/10) MEPA review suspended.
- Project narrowed, funding being sought.
- Comment period on Project Change ended August 7, 2009.
|
Monitor:
- Integration of Assembly Square into Urban Ring
- Access of Somerville to Urban Ring service.
- Mode of transportation (bus rapid transit versus light rail)
|
Background:
|
Risks:
- Lack of funding.
- Latest project proposals bypassed Somerville, except for spur to Assembly Square stop.
- Project remains bus rapid transit, not light rail.
|
Mitigation:
- Work for funding.
- Continue advocacy for connection through Assembly Square to north and south.
- Continue advocacy for Somerville access to Urban Ring.
- Continue advocacy for light rail.
|
Washington Street Improvement Project |
Summary: Remilling and resurfacing of Washington Street from New Washington Street to the Boston city line, with improved sidewalks, signage, street markings, and lights.
Time Frame: 1-2 years
Status: (1/7/10) Public hearing on improvements held. Project to take 8 months to finish.
History:
(1/1/10) Public hearing on improvements 1/7/10. |
Monitor:
- Integration with neighborhood, particularly Brickbottom.
- Integration with Green Line Extension.
|
Background:
- Summary of 1/7/10 Meeting.
- The area around I-93 and Route 28 comes under a confusion of city, state, and federal jurisdictions, making improvements difficult to organize.
- This improvement is near the proposed Brickbottom stop on the Green Line Extension.
|
Risks: The street upgrades may clash with the nearby proposed Green Line Extension changes. |
| Mitigation: Attend meeting and check that Green Line Extension, particularly the Brickbottom stop, has been taken into account. |
|