Green Line Station Locations Unveiled

At right, a Green Line train at Cleveland Circle. Photo by Alexander Svirsky.

Three Potential Station Locations for Medford

Story Updated 10:16AM Wednesday, May 7, 2008

– Allison Goldsberry

After months of public meetings and discussion, the Executive Office of Transportation unveiled three potential locations for Green Line stations in Medford at a meeting Monday afternoon.

Potential station locations include just over the Medford/Somerville line near Broadway by Ball Square, somewhere between College Avenue and Winthrop Street adjacent to Boston Avenue, and at Route 16 by the UHaul and Cummings Park properties.

Other locations that were considered for the Medford Hillside were College Avenue at Boston Avenue and Winthrop Street at Boston Avenue, but those options were scrapped in favor of a stop somewhere between those two potential stops.

Project managers are still working on details about how many stops the Hillside will have, where they will be, and where the line will end. The Green Line could extend all the way to Route 16, which would require significant land takings and business relocations, or could end somewhere between College Avenue and Winthrop Street, which would require less construction and land acquisition.

According to City Councilor Fred Dello Russo, Jr., a member of the Green Line Project Advisory Group, the stations are not definitive and more public meetings will be held so residents can provide input on where they would like the stations to be.

Project managers are expected to attend the May 13 Council meeting to speak more specifically about how the project will impact Medford.

The Council tabled a resolution offered by City Councilor Robert Maiocco that asks the MBTA to refrain from taking residential property for the project. The resolution will surface again at next week’s meeting after project managers and the public have had their say.

Councilor Maiocco was adamant in his opposition to taking private land, especially that of residential property owners, to extend the Green Line to the Hillside.

“If we have to stand in their backyard before the jackhammers come, we’ll do it, because I don’t want one inch of private property taken for the expansion of the Green Line to Medford,” said Councilor Maiocco.

Another issue for Medford was the location of an 11.5 acre maintenance facility for the Green Line. Project officials are considering land in Somerville for the facility, and according to Councilor Dello Russo, the Green Line’s terminus in Medford will likely not included a maintenance facility, large or small.

More…

Past coverage of the Green Line extension project from InsideMedford.com

The Green Line Extension website