January 8 Last Day to Comment on Green Line Report

Public Comments Accepted on Draft Environmental Impact Report

The public comment period on a state Green Line extension report will come to an end on Friday, January 8, 2010.

Public feedback is sought on the Green Line’s Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR), which was filed in October 2009. The DEIR is the culmination of 24 months of analysis and preliminary design and engineering for the project, which will extend Green Line service from Lechmere Station in Cambridge through Somerville to Medford. The report will need the approval of the state’s Executive Office of Environmental Affairs for the project to proceed to the next phase of detailed engineering and final design.

The report was posted to the Green Line Extension project website- click here to read it.

The DEIR was delayed for many months due to citizen opposition in Somerville over the placement of a maintenance facility. According to the state transportation department, the report includes two additional options for the site of the controversial storage and maintenance facility. The Massachusetts Departemnt of Transportation (MassDOT) called the addition of the two potential maintenance facility sites “a good solution to move the project forward.”

The agency was required to file the DEIR on December 1, 2008, but the filing was delayed due to its efforts to “find a positive resolution” regarding the maintenance facility location.

Written comments on the report can be sent to the following:

Secretary Ian Bowles
Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs MEPA
Office Attn: Holly Johnson, MEPA Analyst
EEA #13886
100 Cambridge Street, Suite 900
Boston, MA 02114
Fax: 617-626-1181
Email: Holly.S.Johnson@state.ma.us