Author: smulder

The FEIR is essentially an addendum to the DEIR, with analysis and information that supplements the original document. It focuses on the following areas:

• Detailed analysis of the other potential locations for the maintenance facility, with Option L as the new preferred site due to public and City support, operational efficiency, and beneficial Inner Belt development.
• Refined conceptual design of the Lechmere station based on public feedback, including an additional station entrance, smaller platform, reduced parking, and modified roadways and bicycle and pedestrian paths.
• Impacts of making the College Ave station a terminus until the Phase 2 extension to Route 16, including impacts to operations, access, traffic, noise, and vibration.
• Clarification of air quality modeling.
• Additional information on the impacts and mitigation for sound, vibration, traffic, and so on.
• A Public Involvement Plan for community participation going forward, with a Design Working Group, various public meetings and workshops, and more.

Visit the Green Line site to download the report as many separate files, or download the combined PDFs here:
FEIR executive summary (PDF)
FEIR text/chapters (PDF)
FEIR figures (large PDF)
FEIR appendices (really huge PDF)
Give your comments on the FEIR at a public hearing on June 30. Written comments will be accepted until July 23. Keep reading for details.

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The CCP (Community Corridor Planning) design workshops for the Green Line Stations were terrific. The energy in the room, the breadth of ideas, the creativity of the designs, the attention to critical details, and the keen knowledge of neighborhoods resulted in a terrific community start to making sure the Green Line is designed to serve our community well. We think the experience and the products produced were very exciting for everyone in the room. Keep reading to view example sketches from the all the groups.
Gretchen Von Grossman and Don Kindersvatter, our workshop consultants, are now assembling all of your great ideas into a final version to be presented to MassDOT. However, we know that submitting the document is only one way to present our ideas. To maximize our impact on the Mass DOT design process we invite you to stay involved, During the next months there will be many opportunities to present your ideas and to keep up to date on the progress of the Green Line extension. A first, important opportunity to do so is this Saturday at the MassDOT Green Line workshop.

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Cambridge Day: "Linking green, red rail lines at Porter draws interest" "The extension that we're building that's currently going to terminate in Union Square, there could be a future in which that was then extended to make the connection for the red line and commuter rail at Porter. That's not part of this project. But there's nothing we're doing to make…

Paul Cote with Harvard's Graduate School of Design has created a 3D environment using Google Earth to help visualize the station areas and designs. You can download his models and even add your own ideas in 3D. Check it out.

In a few weeks MassDOT will release the revised Green Line Extension Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR), which will clarify and expand parts of the DEIR. There will be a public meeting on the FEIR on June 30.

Check out www.lechmeresquare.com, which focuses on the Lechmere Station relocation from an East Cambridge perspective and features a proposal for a public market at the current station location.

Thanks to all who joined us today to help guide the design of the new Green Line stations!

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Somerville News: "Green Line just around the bend in Somerville" "We have momentum on our side. Mass transit in Somerville is no longer the stuff of science fiction, like time travel and flying cars. The Green Line extension is coming together. It will mean that 85 percent of our residents will live within half a mile of mass transit."

The State has published a quick summary of where things are with the Green Line extension. This is a good quick read if you want the latest info on the Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR), upcoming workshops, and the field survey work already underway. View the Spring update (PDF)

Boston Globe: "Inner Belt chosen for Green Line maintenance facility" Somerville Journal: "Somerville and state finally on same Green Line train of thought" Somerville News: "Somerville's Brickbottom spared MBTA maintenance facility" "We've been pushing back for a year and a half," STEP member Karen Molloy said. "Did anyone bring champagne tonight?"