Summary: New stop proposed in Assembly Square, between Sullivan Square and Wellington.

Time Frame: To be finished in 2014.

Status:

• (11/15/11) Public meeting scheduled after construction contract awarded by MBTA.

History:

• (5/9/11) Orange Line T-Sop enters Ch. 91 review.
• (5/2/11) Assembly Row DIF up for vote in Somerville BOA.
• (5/4/11) Authorization of funding on MassDOT Board agenda.
• (4/4/11) Public meeting scheduled by Somerville Conservation Commission on Order of Conditions for the T-Stop development.
• (3/27/11) Federal funding fell through. State funding depends upon agreement among City, State, and Federal Realty to establish Assembly Square DIF.
• (3/22/11) Public hearing held by Somerville Conservation Commission on Notice of Intent filed by MBTA.
• (9/19/10) Discussions begin on connections to East Somerville via Foley Street near proposed SSG self-storage development.
• (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:

• Quality of connections to Somerville that inhibit use of T-stop
• Quality of connections with IKEA development.
• Funding for Assembly Line T-Stop.
• T-Stop design elements.
• Progress on T-Stop.
• Air pollution in neighborhood.

Background:

• Draft MBTA Capital Investment Plan FY2013-FY2017 (PDF)
• Assembly Row District Improvement Financing Program
• Assembly Square Change-of-Use Ordinance
• Assembly Square Self-Storage Ordinance (PDF)
• Assembly Square Orange Line 30% Design Meeting Slides
• Background Information and Recommendations for the Design of the Assembly Square T Stop Prepared by Wig Zamore, MVTF and STEP (PDF)
• Comments to EOT on SIP Transit Commitments 2009 Status Report and Draft 2010-2013 TIP and Air Quality Conformity Determination
• Comments to Alderman Rebekah Gewirtz on Assembly Square T-Stop
• STEP Orange Line Overview
• MBTA Assembly Square Project
• Summary of Studies on Particulates from Regional Transportation
• Tufts Community Research Center Air Monitoring Study (PDF)
• Press Release on State and Federal Funding for Assembly Square Infrastructure.

Risks:

• Loss of funding due to inattention.
  
• Convoluted access to IKEA from T-Stop.
• Convoluted connections to the rest of Somerville.

Mitigation:

• Continue advocacy for transit funding through Boston MPO and MBTA.
  
• Advocate for IKEA access and urban design elements that will help Assembly Square development.

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:

• Effect upon traffic
• Effect upon public health (diesel exhaust)

Risks:

• Traffic and health impacts
• Deemphasis of Urban Ring,
• Abandonment of downtown connection between North and South Stations.

Mitigation:

• Pedestrian path.
• Adapt route to light rail or bus rapid transit instead.

Monitor:

• Status of proposals.
• DIscussions of funding.

Risks:

• Continued lack of trolley service through South Somerville.
• Loss of economic development potential.

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:To complete 2018.

Status:

• (1/25/12) Public meeting on bridges and demolition [Medford Street Rail Bridge (Somerville), Harvard Street Rail Bridge (Medford), 21 Water Street (Cambridge)].
• (12/14/11) Public design meeting on Lechmere station.

History:

• (11/23/11) Mystic Valley Parkway Visioning Report comment period.
• (11/14/11) interactivesomerville.org launched.
• (9/28/11) $476 M allocated for Green Line Extension, with talk of phased implementation.
• (8/7/11) GLX postponed again, to 2018. It was supposed to be done in 2011.
• (6/11) GLX Station Design workshops scheduled, one for each new station.
• (5/26/11) GLX Design Working Group could discuss analysis of using Boston Engine Terminal for GLX support.
• (5/17/11) 3rd public forum on Green Line to Mystic Valley Parkway extension
• (2/16/11) First Route 16 visioning meeting scheduled.
• (9/28/10, 9/29/10) GLX Station Design Meetings scheduled.
• Option L accepted as preferred choice by DOT.
• (7/23/10) End of FEIR public comment period.
• (6/30/10) Public meeting on FEIR scheduled.
• (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:

• Draft MBTA Capital Investment Plan FY2013-FY2017 (PDF)
• Mystic Valley Parkway Green Line Extension Community
  Visioning Process Draft Report (PDF)
• interactivesomerville.org
• Analysis of the Boston Engineering Terminal for the Purposes of Siting a Light Rail Vehicle Support Facility (PDF)
• Green Line Extension Design Working Group Materials
• Green Line Extension Project Materials
• Green Line Extension FEIR
• Sketches and Ideas from Green Line Station Design Workshops
• STEP Green Line Extension Design Workshop Proposal
• MIT Master's Thesis (2008): Strategies to Develop and Preserve Affordable Housing along the Green Line (PDF)
• STEP Summary of Scope of Technical Work Program for the Green Line Extension FEIR
• CTPS Scope of Technical Work for the Green Line Extension FEIR (PDF)
• STEP Response to Green Line Extension DEIR Certificate
• Green Line Extension DEIR Certificate (PDF)
• Green Line Extension Draft Environmental Impact Report Testimony
• Additional Maintenance Facility Alternatives Analysis (PDF)
• The DEIR can be accessed from the following sites:
  • Green Line Site (dozens of separate PDF files)
  • Somerville STEP Site (three large PDF files)
    
• STEP Green Line Overview,
• Green Line Extension Project
• Draft Union Square Station Plan (PDF)
• Draft Inner Belt / Brickbottom Station Plan (PDF)
• Draft Gilman Square Station Plan (PDF)
• Draft Lowell Street Station Plan (PDF)
• Draft Ball Square Station Plan (PDF)
• Draft College Avenue Station Plan (PDF)
• Draft Mystic Valley Parkway / Route 16 Station Plan (PDF)
• List of Community Corridor Planning Meetings (PDF)
• SCC Community Organizing

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.

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.

Status:

• Not in current Regional Transportation Plan.

History:

• Design underway. FEIR required. Preferred alternative closes Bowdoin Station (now on reduced hours).
• (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:

• Certificate for Red Line-Blue Line Connector Draft EIR (PDF)
• Draft EIR for Red Line-Blue Line Connector
• Red Line-Blue Line Connector project website
• Required as part of original Ozone TIP mitigation.

Risks:

• Continued inconvenient access to North Shore from Somerville.
• Lack of funding.

Mitigation:

• Advocate for funding.
• Evaluate proposals.
• Evaluate associated development proposals for sustainability.

Monitor:

• Making McGrath a boulevard as it originally was.
• Establish connections between neighborhoods separated by the highway.
• Lower traffic speeds, reduce noise and pollution
• Make more pedestrian and bike friendly
• Add green space.

Risks:

• Repeating old mistakes
• Treating McGrath as a superhighway flyover.

Mitigation:

• Attend meetings and especially public hearings.

Summary: Redesign of Sullivan Square area, including T-Stop and proposed elimination of Rutherford Avenue overpass.

Time Frame: 1-5 years

Status:

• (10/18/11) Surface Option being presented to accommodate traffic from Assembly Square.

History:

• (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.

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:

• (11/21/11) Design public hearing scheduled.

History:

• (12/5/10) Engineering Design Consultant for the Community Path out for bid, contract term from 1/1/2011 through 12/31/2012.
• Demolition of the existing rails from Cedar Street to around Central Street done as part of the MaxPack development near Lowell Street. Bike path contamination may be an issue.
• As of 5/0910, 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:

• Friends of the Community Path (Somerville)
• Friends of the Community Paths (regional)
• Somerville Bicycle Committee.
• SomervilleBikes.org
• Liveable Streets
• WalkBoston.org

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.

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:

• Not in current Regional Transportation Plan.

History:

• (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)

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.

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.