Green Line extension to Tufts, maybe...

[hauntmeister.livejournal.com]

Okay, this is more Tufts-related than Davis Square related, but I figured it was close enough! First, it looks as though the Green line will extend into Somerville...Hurray!

But there are two competing proposals for the route the extension will take. Either way, it would begin from Lechmere, and then either go one stop into Union Square (and stop there) or through east Somerville to Tufts, making three or four stops along the way. You can read the Somerville Journal article about it, though the proposals make more sense if you can see the maps in the printed version.

Let me encourage people to write a letter to the Somerville Journal (if you do it today, it'll be in this week's paper) at Somerville@cnc.com and support your proposal of choice. My feeling is that the longer extension into Tufts makes more sense than a single shunt into Union Square.

Comments

[dmaze]

Having lived near Magoun Square, I think having better transit in that part of Somerville and near Medford would be a big win. There are reasonably obvious places along the Lowell commuter rail line to put rapid transit stops that would serve residential neighborhoods, and it's not that much of a stretch to put something in Ball Square. Yes, this is only a 15-20-minute walk to Davis, but having the newer stops makes Winter Hill be much more transit-accessible than depending on the 80/89/101 bus now.

All of the proposals I've seen have said glowing things about "West Medford", though, and I'm not convinced this is workable. I readily believe that the right-of-way has four tracks' worth of space from McGrath Highway to the Cedar Street interlocking. But from Ball Square to West Medford, the right-of-way is two tracks wide, and that's it. Where is the green line supposed to go here? (Fighting for track space with the Downeaster? Unlikely. :-) The "must pave world with bike paths" people also have their eyes on the Somerville part of this corridor.

Which brings an interesting question: my understanding is that the clearance above the decaying freight track here is just enough more than above the two passenger tracks to be important. Does Guilford still use this line for freight deliveries? (I saw a sand train there, once, three years ago.) Is there enough capacity elsewhere in the system ("on the single-track Haverhill line") if this line goes away for them?