By Joseph A. Curtatone

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries of The Somerville News belong solely to the authors of those commentaries and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville News, its staff or publishers.)

The latest debate over how best to cope with the costs of our regional transportation system has been prompted by the June 25th release by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation of a list of “public ideas and recommendations received by MassDOT for interim emission offset mitigation measures needed to compensate for any delay in the implementation of the MBTA Green Line Extension project.”

That may sound pretty dry, but it’s actually a warning bell that, when it comes to building and operating a 21st century transportation system, delay is once again proving more expensive than prompt action.

To understand why, it’s important to remember the origins of the Green Line Extension (GLX). As valuable as it will be for our regional economy, and as much as it will improve the wellbeing and quality of life for residents and commuters throughout eastern Massachusetts, one of the principal reasons that the GLX was authorized back in 1990 was to compensate for the increased vehicle emissions that would be generated by the additional traffic in the Boston area as a result of the Central Artery/Tunnel Project – what we now know as the Big Dig. Failure to complete the GLX puts Massachusetts in violation of federal environmental law.

Today, despite a successful lawsuit in 2005 by the Conservation Law Foundation, and despite a commitment from then-Governor Romney to complete the project by 2014, the state is still struggling to keep the project moving. Governor Patrick and his team have been aggressive and persistent in pushing to meet the 2014 deadline, but now, they, too, are acknowledging further delays. Currently, MassDOT is estimating that the GLX will reach Union Square in 2016, and will get to Medford by 2018.

In the meantime, the need to compensate for the added emissions from the Big Dig hasn’t disappeared. And so, because the GLX wasn’t built on schedule, the state faces tens – perhaps hundreds – of millions of dollars in additional costs to reduce emissions in other ways. Some of these alternative emissions-savers, such as increasing the headways (frequencies) of Red Line and Orange Line trains or extending the Community path through Somerville and into Boston, are desirable projects in their own right. But if the Commonwealth would simply move ahead with the job of fixing the underlying structural issues of our transportation financing system, then these added mitigation expenditures wouldn’t be needed.

Last month, I joined with other municipal leaders, state officials and policy experts from across the state to urge a permanent fix that lets us get on with the absolutely unavoidable task of building and sustaining a multimodal transportation network – roads, bridges, transit and rail – that can support a 21st Century economy. What I said then, and what I say now, is that investment in such a system is essential to our future prosperity.

So far, I’ve heard enthusiastic support from a lot of my fellow officials, including the leadership at MassDOT, with whom we continue to work closely and cooperatively. The only opposing response I’ve heard is that we simply don’t have the money for big transportation projects, so we can’t and shouldn’t make the investment.

For example, on June 19th, Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr explained his opposition to additional funding for the MBTA by saying, “Our message is: no more money unless something changes.”

This response sidesteps the economic consequences of abandoning projects like the GLX. And, of course, it kicks the financial can down the road. You can’t have the money now, but maybe someday . . . And, of course, someday never comes.

And in the meantime, the need to reduce emissions and comply with federal law becomes even more acute, and new costs are incurred for additional mitigation.

At some point – and it may as well be now, when borrowing costs are low, construction workers need the jobs, and the state has made progress in streamlining the MBTA’s operating costs – we need to stop pretending that we can postpone needed transportation maintenance and enhancements – or, even worse, pretending we can dispense with them altogether.

At some point – and it may as well be now – we need to recognize that the longer we delay, the more expensive the solutions become, and the dimmer our economic future will be.

At some point, we have to recognize the most cost-effective approach to building and operating the transportation system we need (and deserve) is to stop wasting time and get on with the job.