State DOT: Green Line Completion Delayed 10 Months

Green Line Extension to Medford, Somerville to be Completed by October 2015

– Allison Goldsberry

A project status report released by the state transportation department indicates the Green Line extension to Medford and Somerville will be delayed by ten months.

According to the report, the expected completion date for the nearly $1 billion project has been pushed past the legal deadline of December 31, 2014 to October 2015.

Despite the delay, State Transportation Secretary Jeffrey Mullan told the Boston Globe the project is still a top priority for the state.

“This is, if not our top priority, one of our top priorities in the transportation world,’’ said Mullan. “It is a good project, it is a worthy project, and it’s one that we’re committed to.’’

Mullan told the Globe the delay is a result of the time the state had to spend negotiating with the community while finding a location for a maintenance facility, which will ultimately be located in Somerville near an existing MBTA maintenance facility.

The status report says the transportation department will submit a petition in January 2011 to delay the project and that the public will have an opportunity to comment if the project’s proposal is modified.

Currently, two stations are planned for Medford, one in Ball Square on the Medford/Somerville line and another in the Medford Hillside neighborhood on College Avenue.

Plans for a stop at Route 16 are uncertain. Transportation officials have declined to provide a completion date for the Route 16 stop and have said it will be part of a second phase of the Green Line extension that will be completed “shortly” after the first phase, which will bring the Green Line to College Avenue.

The once $600 million project is now estimated to cost $954 billion. And that’s just for six planned stops. The seventh, a stop at Route 16, could cost another $130 million, pushing the total cost of the project over $1 billion.

Photo by Alexander Svirsky, MassRoads.com.