By Joseph A. Curtatone
Even though our local attention has been diverted in recent days by flash flooding, we should not forget about another extremely important piece of news that emerged this week: the announcement that the Green Line extension will not be completed until 2015.
It was not an altogether unexpected announcement since it took six months longer than anticipated to select the site for the Green Line maintenance facility located in the Inner Belt. The good news is Somerville will benefit from that selection, the site known as Option L. It will facilitate redevelopment in the Inner Belt and it moves the maintenance facility away from Brickbottom residents.
The delay also may help in terms of securing funding for a crucial element of the Green Line extension, the simultaneous extension of the Community Path. At the heart of reintroducing mass transit to our city is quality of life and the Community Path only enhances the quality of life bona fides of this project.
Mass transit will allow Somerville residents to be less dependent on their cars. It will bring more people to our local businesses. It will make it easier for Somerville residents to get around in Somerville. Yet mass transit isn’t the only way to get from Point A to Point B. People have rediscovered what once seemed old-fashioned: walking and riding a bike. Being active not only keeps you fit and puts you in a better frame of mind, it’s also not a bad method of getting around. No waiting in traffic. No hunting for a parking space. Plus, it’s easy to stop and say hello when you see someone you know.
In fact, the Community Path has become one of the jewels of the city and one of our busiest thoroughfares. We like it so much we want to extend it. Plans are already underway to extend the path from Cedar St. to Lowell St., but the only way to build it through the eastern portion of the city will be if it is part of the Green Line extension.
The plan is for the Community Path to share the Green Line corridor, allowing bicyclists and pedestrians to travel the length of the city along a car-free route. Also, running the Community Path next to mass transit will make it easier for people to bike or walk over their nearest T station for their daily commute. In conjunction with the network of bicycle lanes we’re placing throughout the city – 10 miles of new lanes are being added in 2010 – Somerville will have an alternative transportation grid in place for people who want to get around without a car.
This all goes back to quality of life. We want to make Somerville the most livable community in the country. In order to get there we need to make sure the Community Path extension is concurrent with the Green Line extension, otherwise we will miss our window of opportunity. Once the Green Line is up and running, it is not realistic to expect another significant piece of development to take place along that corridor.
So, while there is a delay in terms of when the Green Line extension will be completed, it is go time in terms of planning the Community Path and securing the funding to make sure it is part of the overall Green Line project.
The City of Somerville should be intimately linked with the rest of Boston’s urban core.  We have the roads and highways in place. We have the Green Line coming. The Community Path is just as essential. It will connect the Minuteman Path – which runs through Cambridge, Arlington, Lexington and Bedford – with the city of Boston. It will be considered one of the great bicycle highways in America and it will run directly through the heart of Somerville.
I am encouraged to hear state officials talking about how the Option L decision improved the Green Line project. The Community Path improves it even more and is an essential piece of getting this project done the right way.