MAYOR SALUTES “VISIONARY” VOTE OF BOSTON MPO TO AUTHORIZE FUNDING FOR RTE 16 GREEN LINE STATION

SOMERVILLE - Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone today praised the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization for what he described as its "wise and visionary" decision to authorize $8.1 million in funding for the study, design and construction of the Route 16 station of the Green Line Extension Project (GLX). At its April 19th meeting, the MPO voted 19 to 2 in favor of a Patrick administration proposal to include funding for the project in the Federal Fiscal Years (FFY) 2013 - 2016 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP). "I wanted to speak out because this wise and visionary decision hasn't gotten as much attention as it deserves," said Curtatone.

The MPO is an intergovernmental organization with 22 voting members representing 101 cities and towns in the Boston metropolitan area as well as various state transportation agencies. It oversees the region’s federally required metropolitan transportation-planning process and produces the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) that allocates federal, and some state, transportation funds to roadway, transit, bicycle, and pedestrian projects across the entire region

"The funding plan authorized last month by the MPO goes a long way toward locking in continued support for the extension of the Green Line through Somerville and Medford all the way to the logical terminus at Route 16," said Curtatone. "I've said all along that I'm confident the Green Line Extension will be completed, but only if we continue to fight for it every day. This vote is a reminder that that this is a truly regional project with truly regional benefits."

Curtatone noted that the Green Line Extension project was important not only to the cities of Somerville, Cambridge and Medford, but to the state as whole. "Massachusetts can emerge from the recent recession with greater strength than ever - we're already doing better than most other states," Curtatone said. "But we can't support a 21st-century economy without an equitable, balanced, 21st-century transportation system. This action by the MPO is one of the keys to creating a system that supports jobs, business development and a better quality of life throughout the region."