Phase 2 Countdown to May, 2008.
by Arshag Mazmanian
In just under two (2) months (by May 31st), the Executive Office of Transportation (EOT) will be filing its Revised DEIR/DEIS with MEPA. This major document will be quite detailed. The public may comment in writing after it has been filed. Following the close of the public comment period (usually 30 days), EOT will have the opportunity to respond so that the MEPA may consider such comments and responses in its review of this document.
Prior to the filing of the Revised DEIR/DEIS, the Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) will be holding public meetings to consider whether CAC’s stakeholders can reach a consensus on this document, which will include EOT’s Locally Preferred Alternatives (LPAs) for Phase 2 routes. It is not yet clear when EOT can be expected to decide upon such LPAs. As of the submission of this installment on the Urban Ring for publication, no CAC (including subcommittees) meetings have been posted on the Urban Ring website at www.theurbanring.com for such purpose.
In addition to the CAC’s public meetings, EOT is to schedule corridor-wide public meetings for each of Phase 2’s three (3) Segments (A, B and C). My focus on this series has been primarily on Segment B from Cambridge to Ruggles Station, which includes the still problematic Charles River crossing – under or on the BU Bridge – to Commonwealth Avenue/Mountfort Street, to the Kenmore or Fenway Station areas, to the Fenway and the Longwood Medical Area (LMA). As noted in earlier installments, Segment B seriously impacts traffic and transportation issues for Brookline and its residents.
These corridor-wide public meetings remain to be scheduled. But time is fleeting if (a big IF) the public is to be provided adequate time to absorb and question particularly the LPAs for Segment B. (The last such public meetings were held in April of 2007, since which time many changes have occurred, including the referenced problematic Charles River crossing.) The tight schedule for the countdown to May 31st may not permit for EOT’s definitive or final LPAs at the time of such corridor-wide public meetings. In other words, it is distinctly possible that EOT may make significant changes AFTER such meetings that may not be addressed by the public until after the Revised DEIR/DEIS filing but not at a public meeting.
What the CAC may decide upon is not clear, as there are differences among the major institutional stakeholder-members that may not be readily resolved, particularly between Boston University and Harvard. Plus there are the concerns of LMA stakeholders IF the LPAs for it involve surface routes. (Traffic and transportation problems in the LMA spill over into adjoining Brookline neighborhoods in addition to creating Phase 2 trip timetable delays that may reduce ridership.)
At bottom, EOT’s LPA decisions will most likely reflect available federal funding as the State and local communities are strapped. But if Phase 2 doesn’t work, a lot of time, effort and money will have been expended that might have been better spent on the more expensive Phase 3 with its dedicated light/heavy rail routes.
I shall be providing additional comments on this installment. Comments from others would be welcome.
