When trolleys begin shuttling passengers on the newly built line into Somerville, it will mark the first new branch opening on the MBTA's core rapid transit network since 1987:
An MBTA Green Line train rides on the tracks beneath McGrath Highway in Somerville during a test run of the new extension service. Mark your calendars now: March 21 is set to go down as the most significant Opening Day in 35 years.
Commuters will be able to board Green Line trains in Somerville for the first time ever, starting at Union Square and continuing through a newly constructed Lechmere Station, a reopened Science Park station and then onto the rest of the network. Work on that segment is close to complete, but officials have delayed the target date for completion several times. Last year, officialsfor the Medford branch from the end of 2021 to May 2022; in recent weeks, Poftak has said repeatedly that the May goal now appears in doubt.
Extending the Green Line northward had been a driver of debate for decades, with roots in environmental mitigation required to offset impacts of the Big Dig. The project"essentially crashed and burned" in 2015 and 2016, asBut the revival effort has been a success, and the T expects to wrap up work under the $2.3 billion budget and with enough room to reimburse Somerville and Cambridge for the $75 million they collectively pledged at a time when the extension was imperiled.