Construction Begins on Green Line Extension

| December 17, 2012 | Green Line Extension | No Comments

Photo by Alexander Svirsky, MassRoads.com.

– Allison Goldsberry

After years of public meetings and planning, construction officially began on the Green Line extension to Medford and Somerville.

On Tuesday, December 11 Governor Deval Patrick, State Transportation Secretary Richard Davey, and Congressman Michael Capuano, and other state and local officials held a ground breaking ceremony at 180 Somerville Avenue in Somerville.

“Today, we’re here to reaffirm our commitment to seeing this project get under way,” said Governor Patrick. “For the residents of Somerville and Medford, the Green Line extension means expanded employment opportunity, housing opportunity and recreational opportunity. This project is about more than transportation. It’s about growth.”

According to an email from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, the first phase of construction includes the reconstruction of two bridges, the Harvard Street railroad bridge in Medford and the Medford Street railroad bridge in Somerville. Both bridges will be rebuilt to accommodate the existing Commuter Rail tracks and the new Green Line tracks.

Reconstruction of the Harvard Street bridge will begin this month. Work on the Medford Street bridge will happen in the spring.

A building owned by the MBTA will also be torn down to clear a way for the eventual extension of Green Line tracks from Lechmere Station. The building is located at 21 Water Street in East Cambridge, according to the MassDOT, and will be torn down “later in 2013.”

The first phase of construction will cost $12.9 million and will be done by Barletta Heavy Division, according to the email.

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. The once $600 million project is now estimated to cost $954 million. 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 to $1.12 billion.