MPO's Draft LRTP Now Available for Comment - Where's the Rail?

by Srdjan S. Nedeljkovic

The Metropolitan Planning Organization's (MPO) 25-year Long-RangeTransportation Plan (LRTP) is now out.

The public comment period for the long range plan began Monday, August 15 and will end on Tuesday, September 13.

See the LRTP at the CTPS website.

Unfortunately, the LRTP is abysmal in terms of transit planning. The only rail transit project in the state's 25-year vision is the Somerville/Medford Green line extension, and there is great uncertainty on its funding. As you may know, this project has now been pushed back possibly to 2018.

Is anyone surprised by this delay?!

In the proposed LRTP (chapter 8, page 7), it is noted that about $7 billion of funding is being budgeted for projects in the plan. Of that amount, practically all of the funding is for highways (87%). The only exception is for the Somerville Medford rail extension. This project is now estimated at an unbelievable $1.12 billion for the Somerville portion and another $140 million or so for the Medford part.

Looking at the draft LRTP, that's about it for rail projects. Apparently, there is no money for anything else. The state is arguing forcefully to remove the Red-Blue connector from the list as well. Looking through the document and the criteria for project viability, the state does not consider any other rail projects for funding.

One question I have is: How is it that the costs for the 5.3 mile Green line extension to Somerville/Medford have ballooned from $375 million (2003 PMT) to $1.26 billion?

In February, the MBTA Board of Directors had asked for $95 million for design and planning. Apparently, $22 million was approved..

That's a lot of money just for design. After all, this is just a 5.3 mile project along an existing railway bed. I'm sure there are a million (billion!) reasons that the state uses to explain these costs. But I am skeptical that anything could justify such a massive change in the budget and such a hefty expenditure.

Just look at some other costs of light-rail projects happening nationally. Norfolk's project came in at $43 million per mile and has some similarities to the Somerville/Medford Green line extension, which is now projected to cost about $200 million per mile. How is this possible?

We're in seemingly impossible times right now. How can any new rail project ever get built with such excessive costs being projected for the Somerville/Medford extension? By jacking up the cost of the Green line extension project, and then delaying it practically another decade, the message by the State is unfortunately loud and clear: if it were up to the State, there would be no more rail projects in the foreseeable future.