“A remarkable turnaround for Green Line extension” (CommonWealth Magazine)
“The idea that extending the Green Line from Lechmere into Somerville and Medford could come in under budget is somewhat remarkable given its tangled and tortured history. In its early stages, the price tag of the project ballooned from $2 billion to $3 billion and forced state transportation officials to redesign and revamp the project to eliminate roughly $1 billion in costs.”
“MBTA finds that the Green Line Extension will disproportionately benefit richer, whiter riders” (Boston.com)
“Somerville — which will see the percentage of residents within a half-mile of a transit stop increase from 20 percent to 80 percent when GLX service begins — has seen its old, blue-collar reputation transformed by an influx of young professionals and new development in the years since state officials first committed to the long-delayed project in the 1990s.
‘I think it’s fair to say the demographics of the neighborhoods encompassing GLX have changed,’ [Lynsey] Heffernan [the T’s director of policy and strategic planning] said.”