Comments on: MBTA Moves Forward With Blue Line Extension Planning

By: jeff darling

jeff darling — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 12:25:35 +0000

the people of LYNN deserve the blue line extension.the service is more frequent and less costly than the bus and commuter rail.i slso believe it would be good for business too.just my opinion.

By: Brendon

Brendon — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 01:43:44 +0000

Extending the blue line up to Lynn is ridiculous. While we’re at it, why not extend the green line all the way out to Framingham?

The point of a subway is to connect the urbanized periphery of a city, not the suburbs. That is what the commuter rail is for. This state should stop wasting time and money contemplating these far-fetched ideas and start concentrating on the subway’s more realistic logistical problems like its poor connection to Somerville, Everett, and Chelsea.

By: skranish

skranish — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:54:25 +0000

Oh, come on people. Look at the map.. the ENTIRE extension shares right of way with an existing, heavily used commuter rail line. A ride on the Blue Line extension would trade a scheduled, 20 minute seated ride from Lynn to Boston for a standing 45+ minute ride on the Blue Line. Blue Line cars are tiny – they are built to a 1920s streetcar loading gauge – so they have few, longitudinal seats. The vast majority of passengers stand for the entire trip. Larger cars would require reconstruction of the harbor tunnel and subway under Boston – not likely to ever happen!

It won’t be faster than the existing train, and there is no particular reason to believe it will run all that much more often than the train
As it stands, Lynn is the only high platform station on the eastern main line, so the stops there are actually short compared to other stations such as Salem and Beverly.

I remember a speech long ago by some elected official, explaining how the lack of a transit line to Lynn created an “artificial barrier preventing the good citizens of Lynn from availing themselves of the educational opportunities in Boston”. Really? Someone who wants to go to college is going to be prevented from doing so by the need to read and follow a train schedule? I would rather have a comfortable, seated ride – so I can read and study while in transit!

If any sort of extension is built, it should NOT go to Lynn – it should go out Rt 60 to US 1, with a big garage over the horrible Rt1 interchange. This would actually capture commuters who currently drive into the city.

By: vieri

vieri — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:05:55 +0000

The Blue Line extension is a good project and should happen, but there are many other higher priorities, as mentioned above by Dan. Not to mention the need for Phase III of the Urban Ring (phase II is a complete waste of time and money). But, with the massive T debt load, lack of new revenue and the T’s insistence with pushing BRT projects, the projects that should be built probably won’t be and if they are, they might end up being a running joke like the silver line.

By: Kyle

Kyle — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 15:02:45 +0000

By: Dan Berez

Dan Berez — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 12:51:06 +0000

Extending the Blue Line to Lynn has been promised by every single Massachusetts governor in need of a public relations boost for the past half a century. There is no chance Patrick will be able to find the funds to construct the project. Unlike some of the other possible improvements to the MBTA, such as restoring the E Line of the Green Line, extending the Green Line to Needham Heights, extending the Blue Line to Charles/MGH, constructing the Fairmount DMU Line (which really should be constructed as a heavy rail line), replacing the Silver Line with light rail, and constructing the Somerville Green Line extension, the Blue Line extension has many potential conflicts with property owners and environmentalists. When Patrick can’t find the funding, he can blame it on these groups instead of admitting the idea was nearly impossible in the first place.

On the other hand, if the funding does open up for a true extension of the Blue Line to Lynn and points north, I would welcome it with open arms. A temporary or even replacement solution, with long lasting benefits, would be to electrify and double or even triple track the commuter rail line from North Station to South Salem (adding additional tracks to the Salem tunnel would be prohibitively expensive) and operate it as a rapid transit style line. Additional stations in Everett and Chelsea could be added. These improvements could also permit express service for the Newburyport and Rockport branches.

By: Nathanael

Nathanael — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 11:03:12 +0000

Abolishing the Silver Lie would be a good start.

Getting construction contractors who can complete a station rehab in less than a decade would be another. :-P