The Green Line Extension interim team continues to review all aspects of the project with an eye to getting the project back into budget.
One piece of the project that has been building a groundswell of support is the Community Path portion of the project. Hundreds of residents gathered in the Somerville High School auditorium to find out where the path might fit in the newly envisioned project.
MBTA Chairman Frank DePaolo acknowledged the importance of addressing the issue, “We knew it (the community path) was of real interest to the communities involved along the Green Line Extension project. Eighty million dollars in projected savings is a significant step towards getting the project down to a range that we can afford.”
During the presentation Interim Project Director Jack Wright outlined the changes made to the original community path design that brought the project from 100 millions, down to 20 million. Most of the savings are being found by moving the path to make use of existing retaining walls to support the path. Changes also include adding track crossings and doglegs. But the most significant change came in taking about a quarter of the two-mile path out of the track cut and onto city streets, including along McGrath O’Brien Highway. Criticism was swift and personal. One Cambridge resident just took that route, “I’m probably one of the few people who rode my bike to this meeting along McGrath O’Brien Highway. And it was a very unpleasant, distressing experience.” Others raised concerns about the safety of families and the amount of pollution along the busy road.
Lynn Weissman is Co-Chair of the Friends of the Community Path. The group developed a cost saving alternative of their own which they submitted to the interim team shortly before the April 13 meeting.
“There were overlaps in our plan and their plan from Lowell Street to Central Street. There were some other overlaps, but there are areas where we think our plan will be a great improvement,” says Weissman, “ the biggest is probably their plan shows the path re-routing along some sort of cycle track on McGrath Highway. This is the Environmental Justice section of Somerville.”
The Friends of the Community Path have reviewed their plan with the GLX interim team and continue to refine their plans.
On May 9 Interim Director Jack Wright will present the team’s findings to the Mass DOT and MBTA boards. The goal is to uncover enough savings to get a green light from the boards to move forward on the project.
