Somerville Transportation Equity Partnership (STEP)

June 30, 2009

State wants to reduce Urban Ring in Somerville

Urban Ring map

The EOT has just filed a Notice of Project Change for the Urban Ring which revises the Preferred Local Alternative to run directly to Sullivan Square from Everett, down Route 99, completely eliminating Medford and mostly eliminating Assembly Square in Somerville, which now would get a backwards spur off of one of the bus routes but lose the direct connection to Logan and is removed from the mainline of the Northern Tier which is proposed to be built. This is strange as the Urban Ring ridership projections for Wellington (5,800) and Assembly Square (5,200) had far exceeded those projected for Sullivan Square (2,700) in the recently filed Urban Ring Phase 2 Revised Draft EIR / Draft EIS. Stay tuned for more updates.