Green Line extension costs to top $1 billion

    The plan to bring the T's Green Line to Tufts is feeling some growing pains.
    Completion of the Green Line extension project is facing delays of up to six years from its 2014 deadline, and its price tag continues to grow.
    Officials this summer raised the project's estimated price tag to over $1 billion. The cost of the project's first six stops, which will culminate near Tufts at College Avenue, rose from $600 billion to $934 billion this summer. A seventh stop was added to the plan in February, and summer estimates put its price tag at $130 million.
    Project Manager Kate Fichter said the increased figure came about as officials developed a more comprehensive picture of expenses. "The original [$600 million] number, which has been out there for five or six years, was generated from a very preliminary planning study," Fichter, an official with the Massachusetts Executive Office of Transportation (EOT), told the Daily.
    The EOT is responsible for finding funding for the extension, but the debt-ridden Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) will service the extra stations and fund their everyday operations once they are built.
    The project is slated to extend the Green Line past the Lechmere station, the current terminus of all northbound trains. The change would add seven stops throughout Somerville and Medford.
    While the Green Line extension as far as College Avenue is still on schedule to meet its 2014 deadline, construction of the seventh stop at Mystic Valley Parkway/Route 16 was pushed back this summer. Completion is now expected between 2016 and 2020. The Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization, which is responsible for allocating federal funding, has "identified funds" for the Route 16 stop in that four-year period, Fichter said.

The costs of service
  Some of the recent cost increase can be attributed to revelations about Americans with Disabilities Act compliance issues. Originally, the seven new stations were to be outfitted with simple platforms, similar to the street-level concrete pads at the Green Line stations on Commonwealth Avenue.
    But consideration of the disabilities legislation forced the EOT to reassess its plans. The extension's tracks, which would run parallel to the existing commuter rail track for a majority of the line, are by and large below street level, meaning elevators and escalators would be necessary to achieve compliance with the law.
    "We're now talking about full stations … escalators, elevators, CharlieCard equipment, heating," Fichter said. "Those are obviously much more expensive."
    According to Ken Krause, a member of the Medford Green Line Neighborhood Alliance, which is made up of local citizens, waiting to complete the final Green Line stop has a separate downside aside from the delay. "It's of concern, because by doing it in a second phase, it would cost $50 million more" due to inflation and other added costs, Krause told the Daily.
    "It's going to be disruptive to the neighborhood to do one construction project, and then two years later have another one begin," Krause added. "It seems a lot more practical to do it all at once."

MBTA woes
    The MBTA is currently confronting a $5.2 billion budget deficit, and strategies to right its financial woes through fare increases and service cuts have been met with public criticism and outrage.
    Former MBTA General Manager Daniel Grabauskas resigned last month amidst a public spat over fare increases with the administration of Gov. Deval Patrick. He was given a $327,487 severance package, earning more public critique.
    Repeated calls to the MBTA were not returned in time for this article.
    Patrick's embattled position at the State House and the impending election cycle have only served to further politicize the current debate over mass transit.
    In recent weeks, Patrick and Grabauskas have feuded in the press over the origin of the fare-hike proposal, with each saying that the other was responsible for the idea.
    After the first in a series of open-to-the-public meetings discussing the proposed fare increases, Patrick announced the cancellation of the remaining 12 meetings.
    The proposed increase would raise the CharlieCard subway fare from $1.70 to $2.00 and the cash subway fare from $2.00 to $2.50. Bus fares would jump $0.50 to $2.00. At this time, however, there are no formal plans to implement fare hikes or cut service in the T system.