MASSACHUSETTS AND MBTA

Boston MPO

The Boston Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) carries out federally funded transportation plans and programs. It consists of seven municipalities, seven agencies, and a public advisory committee that collectively oversee the transportation planning process for the region. Its programs are carried out by the Central Transportation Planning Staff (CTPS). Visit the Boston MPO website for more information.

During Big Dig planning, Massachusetts agreed to several projects to offset the environmental impacts of this huge project. These obligations were made under the Clean Air Act, and among them was extending the Green Line into Somerville by 2011. This commitment appears in two places:

• The Ozone State Implementation Plan (SIP), a 2000 agreement between the state and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
• The Artery Transit commitments in the 2000 Administrative Consent Order (ACO) (PDF), overseen by Massachusetts' Department of Environmental Protection.

The Conservation Law Foundation is one of the organizations that watches over these commitments.

Download this History of Transit Policies and Commitments 1989-1992 (large 25MB PDF) for more detailed background information, news articles, and press releases.

The Boston MPO is responsible for organizing and sometimes guiding the funding process for transportation projects. Its work is summarized by three key documents known as the "certification" documents because the Federal government must approve them:

• Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) 2004-2025
  This is the long-range plan, covering all major projects in the next twenty or so years. It's published every three years.
  
  

  The RTP includes the Assembly Square Orange Line stop (which the document assumes will be funded privately) and the Green Line extension to Medford Hillside. Both projects are given a medium priority.

• Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) 2005-2009
  This document outlines all significant transportation projects for the next four to six years where federal and state funds will be spent. It's published once a year.
  
  

  The Green Line extension does not appear in this document. At the very least, engineering and permitting funding should be here if the state is still committed to the 2011 deadline. The absence of the project is not consistent with federal regulations that required that TIPs give priority to Ozone SIP (Clean Air Act) obligations. The Assembly Line Orange Line stop also does not appear in this document.

• Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP)
  This is the list of all study projects underway or beginning during the following fiscal year. It's published once a year.
  
  

  The UPWP does include studies for both the Green Line extension and the Assembly Square Orange Line stop.

MBTA

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority runs the country's oldest subway system, as well as buses, commuter rail, and commuter boat. Visit the MBTA website for more information.

In March 2004, the MBTA commissioned the firm Vanasse Hangen Brustlin of Watertown to conduct a $391,000 study of transit needs for Somerville, East Cambridge, and Medford, including potential Green Line routes through Somerville. The "Beyond Lechmere Northwest Corridor Planning Project" will be completed in Spring 2005 (?). This study is the only the first of three phases of study and environmental work.

In addition, the MBTA assembled an Advisory Committe to provide feedback on this process. This group consists of residents and community leaders from Somerville, Cambridge, Medford, and Boston.

A document from the MBTA to keep an eye on is the Capital Investment Program (CIP), which is a five-year planning document of the MBTA's planned projects. It's published every year. The Green Line extension is listed in this document as an anticipated future effort.

The MBTA has also been talking for some time about the Urban Ring project, which would provide better public transit by improving the circumferential connections among the spokes of the T's many radial lines.

State and Federal Government

For transportation projects such as these, funding can come from general legislatively enabled programs at the federal and state levels, as well as specific "earmarks" for favored projects, also at both levels. In early 2004, the Massachusetts House of Representatives passed a transportation bond bill authorizing 50% state funding of the Green Line extension. Unfortunately, when the Senate took up the same bill, it passed without the Green Line funding.

Regarding the Orange Line at Assembly Square, U.S. Congressman Michael Capuano and Doug Foy (chief of Commonwealth Development) said that the community and developers need to agree on a clear vision which justifies transit before the state or federal government will help.