The Green Line Extension is still alive—barely. But if the overbudget extension into Medford has any hope of being completed, the project will need to be drastically scaled back and some third parties will need to kick in significant portions of the cost, transportation officials instructed the new team in charge of the project Wednesday.
"The cutbacks in scope really need to be on the side of brutal. This has to be a bare minimum system in order to get to a point financially where we're making a minimum ask to third parties," MBTA Fiscal and Management Control Board chairman Joe Aiello told Jack Wright, the manager in charge of the new team tasked with determining how the extension can go forward on budget.
That will mean going back to the drawing board in designing the line set to extend from a new Lechmere station in Cambridge to College Ave in Medford, with a branch to Union Square in Somerville.
The Department of Transportation's board of directors heard a report from the Green Line Extension's new project manager who is now tasked with redesigning the line as affordably as possible before reaching out to third parties like Cambridge, Somerville and private companies—to see if they can help pick up the tab.
Wright, a former transportation official now with the firm Weston & Sampson, told the state's Transportation Department Board of Directors that in order to finish his redesign in the 90-day window the MBTA authorized, his team will need critical information about what features can and can't be removed from the project.
That means cutting back on some of the accoutrements surrounding the trolley line such as the size and decorative features of station platforms, an accompanying pedestrian trail and even whole station stops.
"We are scoping it back to its original scope," Wright told the board. "We're not slashing from its original intent, but from what it grew to."
The new team will try to identify cost overruns before they happen.
"A project this large, any kind of growth during that construction would be, again, a devastating impact," Wright said.
If the project can be redesigned to be built as affordably as possible, there's still the big question of who pays for much of it. The state's contribution to the budget is set, the board told the new project team, and third-party revenue will be needed to go forward.
Wright asked the board for help accessing information about the project they may need before pursuing deals with other entities.
"That's a lot of information. Some of it, the Weston & Sampson team is going to be getting input from, will be assisting with, and will try to get what the state can figure out for additional funds, assuming that's necessary and be today's estimates it certainly looks like additional is necessary," Wright said.
"This project is not yet a go and there is still consistent potential that that project might not go," Aiello said.
Wright said that the "very aggressive time frame" of 90 days will help his team push stakeholders to make decisions promptly. Agreements for funds from third parties that would benefit from the added transportation options from Cambridge to Medford, like private companies and the municipal governments themselves, will be pursued by the MBTA.
Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack said a more specific conversation about the role of Somerville and Cambridge will come further into the 90-day plan.
Unless the MBTA board is satisfied with the affordability of the project and who's going to pay for it, they could vote to cancel the Green Line Extension in the coming months.
"If your company can pull that off, you're going to be heroes. You'll be the turnaround king," board member Dean Mazzarella told Wright.
