DALLAS — Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority completed the funding for its $2.3 billion Green Line light rail project in Boston with a $996.1 million federal grant announced Dec. 5 by Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx.
The state's contribution to MBTA's 4.7-mile Green Line light rail extension project includes $996.1 million of Massachusetts general obligation bonds and $305.4 million of operating funds.
The new segment will run through some of the Boston region's most heavily populated areas not currently served by rail transit.
The Green Line extension will cut the time it takes to commute to jobs in downtown Boston and serve areas with few transit options, Foxx said at the grant announcement ceremony.
"This project will put time back in the lives of commuters along this corridor, but the real story is about the potential for change this smart investment will bring for residents," Foxx said. "When you connect people to more jobs, education, and medical care, you create the ladders to opportunity that strengthen families and the communities in which they live."
The project includes construction of six new stations and a vehicle maintenance facility, 24 light-rail vehicles, the relocation of some existing commuter rail track, and the development of a bicycle and pedestrian path in Somerville.
Ridership on the Green Line extension is expected to be almost 38,000 trips a day when the segment opens in 2021.
Therese McMillian, acting director of the Federal Transit Administration, said 26% of people living in areas served by the new transit line do not own or have access to cars and rely on public transit to get to work and school.
The Green Line extension will eliminate the need for bus-to-rail transfers and provide a one-seat transit ride to thousands of jobs in downtown Boston and along the Green Line, she said.
"This project will make a huge difference for thousands of residents along the corridor who need and deserve reliable access to jobs and educational opportunities throughout the Boston metropolitan area," McMillan said.
The FTA said in early December that it intended to make the award to the Green Line project through its New Starts capital investment program.
The new segment will extend the existing MBTA Green Line service from a relocated Lechmere Station in East Cambridge to Union Square in Somerville and College Avenue in Medford.
Work began on the project in January 2013 with the widening of two rail bridges. The project is to be completed by 2020 in four overlapping phases.
The MBTA said Green Line trains will run every five to six minutes during peak periods when the new line is operational in 2021.
The new Green Line will include a mainline branch operating within the existing Lowell Line's right of way and a branch line within the Fitchburg Line right of way.
The Green Line extension will also reduce traffic congestion and engine emissions by providing commuters with another option, said Frank DePaola, acting secretary of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.
Construction of the Green Line is required under the state's 2006 legal settlement with the Conservation Law Foundation as mitigation from Boston's Central Artery/Tunnel Project, also known as the "Big Dig." The foundation sued the state over its pledge to offset increased traffic and pollution in the area caused by the tunnel project.
"This federal grant agreement represents a giant step toward attaining environmental justice for thousands of Somerville, Cambridge, and Medford residents," said state Rep. Timothy Toomey Jr.
