“IT’S A REALLY big deal,” said Eric Lesser. The Longmeadow state senator seemed to be channeling Joe Biden’s famous line whispered to Barack Obama at the signing of the Affordable […]
Transportation
Posted inTransportation
Strange bedfellows on fed infrastructure bill
THEY SAY politics can make strange bedfellows, and the vote over the weekend on President Biden’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill was no exception. The bill passed 228-206 with the help […]
Posted inTransportation
Nonunion T employees get $1,000 pandemic bonuses
THE MBTA gave $1,000 bonuses in September to 400 nonunion employees in recognition of their service during the pandemic. The bonuses were approved by MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak and […]
Posted inThe Download
GLX manager Dalton wants to stay on
John Dalton, the manager brought in from Chicago to oversee the construction of the $2.3 billion Green Line extension into Somerville and Medford, is looking to stick around after the […]
Posted inTransportation
GLX manager Dalton wants to stay on
JOHN DALTON, the manager brought in from Chicago to oversee the construction of the $2.3 billion Green Line extension into Somerville and Medford, is looking to stick around after the […]
Posted inTransportation
New MBTA board holds first meeting
A correction has been added to this story. THE NEW PERMANENT MBTA board of directors met for the first time on Wednesday, and adopted a more decentralized approach to overseeing […]
Posted inTransportation
‘Alarming trend’ of firearms at Logan checkpoints
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE SECURITY WORKERS have caught firearms at Logan Airport checkpoints this year at more than twice the rate they did in 2019, part of what Massachusetts Port […]
Posted inOpinion
MBTA has a bad plan for electrification
THE MBTA says that it is committed to an emission-free future bus system, but its plans suggest otherwise. Recently, the T published a document justifying its decision to abandon its […]
Posted inTransportation
Baker commits to bridge linking Assembly Sq. and Encore casino
THE BAKER ADMINISTRATION committed on Friday to build a bicycle and pedestrian bridge crossing the Mystic River and connecting Assembly Station on the Orange Line in Somerville to the grounds […]
Posted inTransportation
New T board likely to move at slower pace
THE NEW PERMANENT MBTA board of directors seems poised to move at a much more leisurely pace than its predecessor, the Fiscal and Management Control Board. Under the statute that […]
Posted inTransportation
T delays Green Line extension a second time
THE MBTA is once again delaying the initial opening of the Green Line extension into Somerville, this time because cramped quarters in a newly built facility for delivering electricity to […]
Posted inTransportation
New work week: Tuesday through Thursday
A NEW DASHBOARD showing average travel times on roadways coming into and out of Boston indicates more people working hybrid schedules are driving in the middle part of the week […]
Posted inTransportation
Fare-free Worcester buses called bright spot in transit recovery
THE BUS SYSTEM in Worcester, which went fare free in March 2020, has built back its ridership during COVID faster than any other transit system in Massachusetts, according to a […]
Posted inOpinion
Senator has shopping list for the T
PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION is a public good, and all residents of the Commonwealth, especially low-income individuals and people of color, deserve equitable access to an affordable, reliable, and green transportation system. […]
Posted inTransportation
Some towns yearn for commuter rail silence
TO SOME, locomotives sounding their horns in advance of grade crossings are an important safety measure that also harkens back to railroad heydays gone by. To others, the horns are […]
Posted inTransportation
Poftak: T has some time to address finances
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE ACKNOWLEDGING IN THE WAKE of a tumultuous month that a series of safety improvements have been “not enough,” MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak said Tuesday that […]
Posted inEconomy
Report urges action on addressing inequities post-COVID
DESPITE A NATIONWIDE reckoning on race, Massachusetts society post-COVID could see even worsening inequities in society based on class and race, if policymakers do not make a conscious effort to […]
Posted inTransportation
Spilka scores victory on I-90 Allston project
SENATE PRESIDENT Karen Spilka took a tour several weeks ago of the aging transportation infrastructure the state is looking to replace in the Allston area. She walked underneath the badly […]
Posted inOpinion
Don’t replace electric trolley buses in N. Cambridge
THE MBTA’S BUS electrification plans, which set a misplaced priority on replacing existing zero-emissions electric trolleybuses in North Cambridge, fail to respond to the urgent need to begin reducing emissions […]
Posted inTransportation
Why we need fare-free public transportation
Earlier last month, I spent two full weeks on public transit across Massachusetts. My mornings started the way they always do; racing to the Blue Line to get my son Mac to […]
Posted inThe Download
Allston I-90 price tag $400m higher than in Nov.
This story has been corrected to state that the price tag is $400 million higher. State transportation officials put a $1.7 billion price tag on the Allston I-90 project on […]
Posted inTransportation
Allston I-90 price tag $400m higher than in Nov.
This story has been corrected to state that the price tag is $400 million higher. STATE TRANSPORTATION officials put a $1.7 billion price tag on the Allston I-90 project on […]
Posted inTransportation
Is it the man or the money?
FOR SEVERAL YEARS, state transportation officials have raised objection after objection to the at-grade option for the narrow throat section of the I-90 Allston project running between Boston University and […]
Posted inTransportation
State embraces all-at-grade Allston project
AFTER YEARS of indecision, the Baker administration on Wednesday took a major step to move the stalled $1.7 billion I-90 Allston project forward, embracing an all-at-grade replacement of the Turnpike, […]