After years of rumors and speculation, it appears that plans are on track to bring a Green Line stop to campus.
On March 29 the state legislature approved a transportation bill that included funding for a Green Line extension. The $1.47 billion bond bill, which Governor Deval Patrick proposed on March 14, will allocate funds for the first phase of design planning for the extension and set a deadline of 2014 for the completion of the project.
Maeghan Silverberg, a spokesperson for Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone, said the extension will be central to Somerville's continued development.
"Mayor Curtatone is carefully monitoring state action and continuing to pressure state agencies to ensure this timetable is met," she said in an e-mail to the Daily. "It is absolutely crucial to Somerville's economic and environmental future that the Green Line ... come to Somerville, and do so on the pre-established timetable."
The extension, which has been years in the making, could help allay sentiments that Somerville has been slighted in receiving only one stop to serve the city.
"The city has only one stop - the Red Line station in Davis Square - while we're home to the second highest transit-commuter population in the state," Silverberg said.
She said that new rails will branch from the Lechmere station to include six new stops, one of which will be on Tufts' campus. One of the new branches will pass through Somerville into Medford, and the other will head from Lechmere to Union Square.
The six proposed stops are at Washington Street, Gilman Square, Magoun Square, Ball Square, Tufts/College Avenue and Union Square. Some are also pushing for additional stops in the area. Curtatone supports such efforts, Silverberg said.
With their current efforts, legislators seek to move forward on a project that has been plagued by delays ever since it was included in the plan for the Big Dig more than 15 years ago. At that time, the justification for the expansion was that it would help offset pollution from the construction.
When the state was slow in implementing the project, the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF), which advocates for environmentally conscious policies in New England, sued in 2005.
"We had a multifaceted strategy," Carrie Russell, a staff attorney for the CLF, told the Daily. "We filed a lawsuit to ensure the commitments were met, but we were not alone."
Russell said that the CLF benefited from a groundswell of support from both Somerville politicians and concerned citizens.
A settlement late last year led the government to revise its plan for the extension and establish a timetable to complete the extension by 2014 by setting specific dates for various stages of the project.
"We are enormously pleased to get the commonwealth to recommit to the new deadlines, but they not only agreed to finish the extension by 2014. [They also] agreed to interim deadlines, so we can now hold them to these deadlines," Russell said. The state also agreed to allow "more public oversight, so the public can get more involved," she said.
Residents and officials in Somerville are excited that the timetable has finally been set and are eager to receive the benefits of the extension.
"There are clear environmental, commercial and social benefits associated with expanded public transportation into Somerville," Silverberg said. The extension has been supported by Curtatone, the "whole legislative delegation, and the Somerville community at large," she said.
Robert Trane, the president of Somerville's Board of Aldermen, agreed that the extension will benefit the financial well-being of the city.
"We've seen the economic boom the Red Line has brought to Davis Square," Trane said.
"If we handle it the right way, the extension will be good for the business community and property values," he said.
Trane said that local residents have been supportive of the expansion because it will help the community and make transportation into and out of Boston easier.
Sophomore Alea Stein was enthusiastic about the idea of bringing the T to Tufts, even though the stop wouldn't be completed until well after she graduates.
"Having a T stop that much closer, I would definitely take advantage of it and go into Boston a lot more frequently," Stein said.
As it is, "I would like to go into Boston a lot more often but even though it's just in Davis, it's like a whole production to get down there," she said.
-Giovanni Russonello contributed reporting to this article.
