State lists ideas for offsetting GLX delay
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By Elizabeth Sheeran

One of the interim steps proposed to make up for the Green Line Extension delay involves running more trains to Lechmere. – Photo by Elizabeth Sheeran

A 2007 legal settlement gave the state a 2014 deadline to either extend the Green Line through Somerville, or come up with other projects that would have the same positive impact on air quality. Now that state transportation officials have said they’ll miss that deadline for the Green Line Extension by years, it isn’t certain they’re going to have any better success with the “or else” scenario.

Nearly a year after pushing out the project end-date to 2020, the state Department of Transportation (MassDOT) recently published its inventory of proposed “mitigation measures” to offset the delay in the Green Line Extension, which was itself intended to mitigate the impact of the Big Dig highway project.

But MassDOT hasn’t yet endorsed or committed to any of the proposed measures. And while locals welcome anything on the list that can improve air quality, what they really want is for the state to put resources into getting the Green Line up and running in Somerville. Yesterday, if possible.

“I think all of us would agree that the one thing that is going to mitigate the air quality issues in Somerville is the completion of the Green Line Extension,” said Hayes Morrison, Somerville’s director of transportation and infrastructure.

The state first committed to extending the Green Line northward over 20 years ago, as one of several public transit projects meant to offset the added traffic and pollution from the Big Dig. After the project went nowhere for years, the non-profit Conservation Law Foundation sued to force the state to move forward, and negotiated a settlement that spelled out the December 31, 2014 deadline.

For every month the Green Line Extension is delayed beyond that date, the state must take steps to cut harmful emissions by as much as if the new stretch of Green Line were up and running. The projects can’t be anything already mandated. They have to have a positive impact on regional air quality that can be measured.  And they have to be implemented by the end of 2014.

MassDOT’s mitigation inventory shows how hard it can be to find projects that meet all those criteria. Let alone finding enough of them to make up for the impact of the Green Line delay. The 122-item list includes everything proposed in writing, by anyone, over months of outreach. It also shows MassDOT’s preliminary analysis of how much each strategy might cut emissions and whether it can be put in place before 2015.

The list’s most promising ideas involve stepping up existing subway and light rail service, by extending the Green Line’s B, C or D train routes beyond Government Center and North Station as far as Lechmere, and running trains more frequently during off-peak hours on the Red, Orange and Green Lines. These steps can entice more people to commute without their cars, and can be launched by 2015 if MBTA operational issues can be worked out.

Suggestions that do the same thing with commuter rail or bus routes, which account for a big chunk of the list, are also viable but don’t have as much positive impact on air quality, since it’s often better for a commuter to drive to work in a car than to be the lone rider on an MBTA bus or a commuter train spewing out diesel fumes.

“At a certain point, if you’re running buses that are empty, you’re actually having a detrimental impact on emissions,” said Morrison.

Dozens more ideas on the list are designed to persuade people to drive greener vehicles, practice more eco-friendly driving habits, or simply leave their cars at home: electric car subsidies, parking policies to cut idling time, or more routes for pedestrians and cyclists, for example. But most of those items get relatively low marks from MassDOT analysts for their emissions-cutting impact: fours or fives on a five-point scale where a one indicates the highest potential for cutting emissions. That’s in part because the impact often can’t be modeled and measured.

Still, MassDOT officials said they’re optimistic about delivering on the mitigation requirement. “From the start, we knew a single measure would not meet all emission reduction requirements. We are confident, based on preliminary analysis, that implementing a number of the suggested measures will get us to our goal,” said Sara Lavoie, a MassDOT spokesperson.

Asked what happens if MassDOT doesn’t meet the mitigation goal by the end of 2014, Lavoie responded, “We are confident with the right mix of measures we will meet the mitigation goal.”

Lavoie said the state is currently inviting public comments on the mitigation measures, which are available on the Green Line project page of MassDOT’s website under the “project documents” tab, through next Monday, July 16.

“Public comment received by July 16 will be evaluated to help MassDOT decide which mitigation measures should be modeled for air quality impacts,” said Lavoie. “Once our evaluation is complete, MassDOT will release the results of the air quality modeling along with our final recommendation for a portfolio of mitigation measures.”

In the meantime, Morrison said Somerville planners are focused on working with MassDOT to soften the blow of the Green Line Extension delay by pushing for a phased-in timeline that brings some stations on line earlier. “Not only is the city pushing for it, but it’s something that MassDOT has been extremely receptive to,” said Morrison.

She said the city’s looking at 2016 as a target date to have the Green Line running along the spur line to Union Square, and as far as a new Washington Street station on the main line, which will bring much-needed public transit options to thousands of East Somerville residents. But two new stations are still only a partial solution.

“The most important thing for Somerville is the completion of the entire Green Line Extension as soon as possible,” said Morrison.