"Five 'smart growth' projects get $1.5m in aid" Five development projects seen as promoting dense urban development oriented around mass transit have been chosen by the Massachusetts Smart Growth Alliance to receive $1.5 million in aid - including planning for the future along the proposed MBTA Green Line route through Somerville.
The following is from Jeff Mullan, MassDOT Secretary…
Over the last few days, I have received your calls and e-mails advocating for MassDOT to include both the portion of the Green Line Extension to Mystic Valley Parkway and the extension of the Somerville Community Path in the Regional Transportation Plan currently being considered by the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization. I have also spoken personally with some of you, but the volume does not permit me time to respond to each e-mail individually. Out of respect for all of you and knowing how strongly you believe in both projects, I offer this response.
Somerville Patch: "Questions Raised on Future of Community Path" A large section of the Somerville Community Path, a pedestrian and bike lane that currently exists outside Davis Square and could be extended through Somerville to the Cambridge border near Lechmere, has not been included in a draft long-range transportation plan put together by the influential Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization.
"Green Line Workshop Gives Glimpse of College Ave Station Design" Architects showed preliminary plans for a green line stop at the intersection of Boston Avenue and College Avenue at a design workshop Tuesday night. The design workshop Tuesday was the first in a series that will touch on each planned station. The next workshop - for Ball Square - will be…
The Boston Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) voted today to support a plan that continues to fund the Route 16 portion of the Green Line extension in the 2016-2020 timeframe. The MPO received more than 100 public comment letters in favor of including the Route 16 portion of the Green Line extension into the plan, compared to only 11 against. Joining the…
"Station design approaches for Green Line Extension" "The wheels of the Green Line Extension churned on this last Thursday, May 26, with some hope for progress in the near future. Community members met to hammer out details for working with the new design team Gilbane/HDR and were met with other funding updates."
HDR/Gilbane has created the following 3D renderings to give a sense of what the new Green Line stations could look like in their neighborhoods. These designs are not final, so make sure to attend the station design workshops this summer! Click below to view all the stations.
Notes from the May 26 meeting provided by Ken Krause…
INTRODUCTIONS
This was the first DWG meeting conducted by the MBTA’s Mary Ainsley, who is assuming overall Project Manager responsibility from MassDOT’s Kate Ficther, and the first involving the new Project Management/Preliminary Engineering consulting team led by HDR Engineering/Gilbane Construction.
The Boston Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) is strongly considering dropping the Green Line stations at Route 16 from the next Long-Range Transportation Plan, which would essentially be its death knell. (The MPO is the agency that determines which transportation projects are chosen to be completed - and, importantly, which are eligible for federal funds and some state funds - in the…
View the letter to David Mohler from State Rep. Carl Sciortino, State Senator Patricia Jehlen, and State Rep. Sean Garballey.