Somerville and Cambridge Offer Cash to Save Expensive Green Line Extension

"In a last-ditch effort to save the troubled Green Line extension, leaders of two cities on the rail line said Thursday they’d contribute $75 million toward the project," report Tim Logan and Travis Andersen.

Somerville and Cambridge offered the cash infusion just four days prior to a hearing on the project by state transportation officials.

Together, the steps amounted to a bid to help salvage most of the 4.7-mile rail line, which has run up to $1 billion over budget. State transportation officials have threatened to pull the plug if that gap can’t be closed. The offers would still need to be approved by the two city councils.

According to Logan and Andersen, consultants hired by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation "are set to present redesigned, scaled-down stations, contracting changes, and other plans aimed at reducing the cost of the now-$3 billion project" on Monday, May 9. "The boards of MassDOT and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s fiscal control board could then vote to approve the revised plan — or to kill the project altogether…"