Thursday, April 18, 2024

Completion of the green line extension project has been delayed until October 2015, adding another 10 months to its timetable, The Boston Globe reports.

Jeffrey B. Mullan, the state’s transportation secretary and chief executive, blames the time “the state spent negotiating with the community and investigating alternative locations for a 24-hour, 11-acre service yard for Green Line trains,” writes the Globe’s Eric Moskowitz. Further, Mullan:

said supporters should not see this as a lack of commitment to the Green Line or a sign of financial woes. “This is, if not our top priority, one of our top priorities in the transportation world,’’ he said. “It is a good project, it is a worthy project, and it’s one that we’re committed to.’’

The full story is here.

In addition to moving the Lechmere station closer to the NorthPoint development, the $954 million project was to include a one-stop spur to Union Square in Somerville, roughly where Prospect Street and Webster Avenue meet, and several stops in Medford, including to Brickbottom, Gilman Square, Lowell Street, Ball Square, College Avenue and finally to Route 16, to a site near the Starbucks, Whole Foods Market and U-Haul depot. Officially, all but the outermost stop were to be built by Dec. 31, 2014, and the decision to move the Route 16 stop to a second phase — because it’s not paid for in the first — has drawn much criticism.