Budget Crisis Could Derail Green Line Extension Project

The MBTA’s Green Line extension project, which is supposed to serve as a tool to help drive development in Cambridge, Somerville and Medford, could be tossed all together. MBTA officials say the project is facing a “budget shortfall” of up to $1 billion.

The project, which is underway, was designed to extend Green Line service from Lechmere Station in East Cambridge to Union Square in Somerville and College Avenue in Medford.

Funding for the project was originally budgeted at $2 billion. Now the amount needed to fund the project has grown between $2.7 billion and $3 billion, the Boston Herald reports.

Officials are actively working to remedy the financial crisis.

The MBTA was granted $1 billion in federal funding to help cover the project’s expenses. If the MBTA cannot figure out a way to manage their budget problems, that funding could be rescinded, according to GM Frank DePaola.

“Everything is on the table, and everything includes canceling the project. That’s not the way we want to go,” Secretary of Transportation Stephanie Pollack to the Boston Herald.

Over $200 million has been sunk into the project already. Since May, several other phases of the project have increased in price. A contractor estimated the next phase of the project to be $500 million more than what was originally budgeted.

Officials could totally overhaul the next phase of the project in order to save money, but that could take up to a year, according to Pollack. It also does not guarantee a better price.