Somerville Journal: “MBTA votes keep Somerville transit projects on track”
“To put it in simplest terms, what happened is the state put a lot of its skin in the game,” Mayor Curtatone said. “Thanks to the leadership of Governor Patrick, MassDOT Secretary Mullan and the support of the MBTA Board, tens of millions of dollars are about to pour into these two projects. There is nothing theoretical about these projects anymore, they are going to happen.”
Boston Globe: “Plodding progress for Green Line extension funding”
“We are going through the process of applying for federal funding” from the New Starts program, said MBTA Green Line project manager Kate Fichter. Though the program is very competitive, “we’ve been working with them for two years” to move the project forward. A decision should come through by the summer.
CommonWealth Magazine: “The Download: Green Line delays”
“There’s a direct link between the T’s inability to pay for the services it performs and its ability to secure federal funds for new services. Federal officials apply a financial feasibility test to funding applications: If you want federal funds for new projects, you have to show the ability to pay for those projects’ operations. The T can’t even pay to run what it has already. Federal officials took a hard look at the financials underpinning the proposed Silver Line Phase III, and Beacon Hill observers believe that if the feds had a funding request for the Green Line extension before them today, the T would fail the financial feasibility test.”
