Green Line Meeting Draws Large Crowd
The MBTA wants to extend the Green Line into Medford and Somerville from Lechmere Station, pictured at left, in Cambridge. Photo courtesy MBTA.com.
– Allison Goldsberry
As planning for the Green Line extension to Medford’s Hillside neighborhood has gained momentum, so too have questions from residents concerned about the project’s impact to their neighborhood. Will homes be taken? How many stops will be in Medford? Where will the train commuters park?
Green Line project managers say they are sensitive to neighbors’ concerns and are trying to plan the project with as minimal an impact as possible to the community.
“We’re trying to make this project work for everyone…and be respectful of peoples’ yards and homes,” Steve Woelfel, one of the project managers, said at a public information meeting held Wednesday night.
Several public meetings are planned in the very near future seeking public input in the project. Another general information meeting, like tonight’s meeting at City Hall, is planned for February 27 at 6PM at Century Bank, 400 Mystic Avenue. In addition, two meetings about potential station locations in Medford will take place on Thursday, January 31 at 6PM at Tufts University’s Sophia Gordon Hall, 15 Talbot Avenue, and Wednesday, February 6, at 6PM at the South Medford Fire Station at 0 Medford Street.
Residents at Wednesday’s meeting, some for the first time, had an opportunity to find out some basics about the Green Line extension as well as voice their opinions and concerns.
“You’re expanding the tracks from two to four. It’s almost impossible not to take land,” said one Hillside resident.
Woelfel said that while the project would like to use the existing commuter rail right of way as much as possible, some areas are “tight” and are being evaluated for potential reconstruction, including some bridges in the area.
Mayor Michael McGlynn, after being called upon by city councilors Tuesday night to publicly state his position on the project, reiterated his support for the project and of a study examining Route 16 as a potential last stop in Medford.
While the mayor said he was against eminent domain and a large maintenance facility in Medford, he said the project was an opportunity for Medford to potentially benefit from transit-oriented growth.
Rumors of a large maintenance facility have been swirling around recently and many local officials and residents have publicly stated their opposition to such a facility. Woelfel said a maintenance facility is necessary and the MBTA is looking first at large parcels of land in Somerville and Boston, as eleven acres are needed for the facility.
According to Woelfel, four options are currently on the table for the Green Line extension, two of which would bring the Green Line all the way to Route 16 with a spur to Union Square, and two that would bring the Green Line to the Hillside, location pending, also with a spur to Union Square.
Potential station locations include College Avenue, Boston Avenue, Winthrop Street, and Route 16 in Medford. As mentioned above, two workshops will be held to discuss those options- see the calendar at GreenLineExtension.org for more details.
In other Green Line extension news, Rita Donnelly, a Charnwood Road resident whose property abuts the commuter rail tracks, has been appointed as the newest Medford member to the Green Line Extension Project Advisory Group. City Councilor Fred Dello Russo, Jr., and residents Ken Krause and William Wood are Medford’s other representatives.
More…
The official Green Line Extension website
Read Beyond Lechmere, the MBTA’s major investment study from 2005 that makes the case for the extension of the Green Line to Medford and Somerville