Massachusetts Department of Transportation

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority

State Implementation Plan – Transit Commitments

Monthly Status Report

December 19, 2013

For questions on this document, please contact:       

Massachusetts Department of Transportation

Office of Transportation Planning

10 Park Plaza, Room 4150

Boston, Massachusetts  02116

planning@state.ma.us

(857) 368-8855

III. Green Line Extension to Somerville and Medford

Project Description

This project – the purpose of which is to improve corridor mobility, boost transit ridership, improve regional air quality, ensure equitable distribution of transit services, and support opportunities for sustainable development – will extend the MBTA Green Line from a relocated Lechmere Station in East Cambridge to College Avenue in Medford, with a branch to Union Square in Somerville. The project is a collaborative effort of MassDOT and the MBTA, with the MBTA taking the lead in design, engineering, construction and project management.

Proposed Stations

New Green Line stations are currently proposed for:

College Avenue, Medford – Located at the intersection of College Avenue and Boston Avenue in Medford, adjacent to Tufts University. The station platform will be located on the north side of the College Avenue Bridge, which crosses over the MBTA Lowell Line. Access to the station will be provided from both Boston Avenue and College Avenue, as well as from the Burget Avenue neighborhood, which lies northeast of the station site.  

Broadway/Ball Square, Medford/Somerville – Located at the intersection of Broadway and Boston Avenue on the north side of Ball Square.  The station platform will be located on the north side of the Broadway Bridge, which crosses over the MBTA Lowell Line.  Access to the station will be provided from both Boston Avenue and Broadway.  An electrical substation, needed to support the Green Line Extension, will be built at this location.  

Lowell Street, Somerville – Located at the Lowell Street Bridge, which crosses over the MBTA Lowell Line adjacent to the proposed extension of the Somerville Community Path.  The station platform will be located on the north side of the Lowell Street Bridge.  Access to the station will be provided from Lowell Street.  

Gilman Square, Somerville – Located in the vicinity of the Medford Street crossing of the MBTA Lowell Line, behind Somerville City Hall, Public Library, and High School.   The station platform will be located on the north side of the Medford Street Bridge, which crosses over the MBTA Lowell Line.  Access to the station will be provided from Medford Street. The proposed extension of the Somerville Community Path will be located in close proximity and with a connection to the station, and an electrical substation needed to support the Extension will also be installed adjacent to the Community Path on the south side of the corridor.

Washington Street, Somerville – Located within the footprint of the Washington Street Bridge, proximate to Somerville’s Brick Bottom, Inner Belt, and Cobble Hill neighborhoods.  The station platform will be located south of the MBTA Lowell Line Bridge over Washington Street.  Access to the station will be provided via entrances located under or adjacent to the south abutment of the bridge, in conjunction with improved sidewalk and street-crossings in the area. The proposed extension of the Somerville Community Path would be located in close proximity to the station. 

Union Square, Somerville – Located east of Prospect Street in the vicinity of Union Square in Somerville.  The station platform will be located within the MBTA Fitchburg Line right-of-way east of Prospect Street.   Access to this station will be provided from both the street and bridge levels of Prospect Street. 

Vehicle Storage and Maintenance Facility (VSMF)

The Green Line Extension will also require the construction of a new light rail vehicle storage and maintenance facility in the vicinity of the Green Line Extension.  The facility will be constructed on an L-shaped parcel in the Inner Belt area of Somerville that is adjacent to the Boston Engine Terminal. The MBTA must acquire certain parcels of private property and relocate select businesses in order to clear the site and construct the vehicle facility at this location.     

Somerville Community Path Extension

The Green Line Extension project also includes the design of the proposed extension of the Somerville Community Path from south of Lowell Street to the Inner Belt area of Somerville. Additional designs are being developed for south of the Inner Belt area. The Path Extension is not part of the SIP commitment.

SIP Deadline

Before December 31, 2014, construction of the following facilities shall be completed and opened to full public use: 1.) The Green Line Extension from Lechmere Station to Medford Hillside and 2.) The Green Line Union Square spurs of the Green Line Extension.

Project Status

Project Team:

The MBTA has procured an experienced project team to manage the design and complete the construction of the Green Line Extension project. These team members are referenced throughout the remainder of this report:

• Program Manager / Construction Manager (PM/CM): HDR/Gilbane; functions as an extension of MBTA staff.
• Advanced Preliminary Engineering / Final Design (APE/FD): AECOM/HNTB; responsible for advanced preliminary engineering and final design.
• Phase 1 Contractor (Design-Bid-Build): Barletta Heavy Division.
• Construction Manager / General Contractor (CM/GC): WSK (JF White/Skanska/ Kiewit); responsible for preconstruction support services to the MBTA and is anticipated to be responsible for the Construction of Phases 2/2A, 3 and 4 of the GLX Program. 
• Owner’s Representative: Hatch Mott MacDonald; Commonwealth-required position for projects of this size.
• Relocation Consultant: Peter W. Sleeper Associates; reports to MBTA Real Estate preparing Relocation Plans for those properties that require relocation.
• Independent Cost Estimator (ICE): Stanton Constructability Services; provides independent cost estimates for each identified Interim GMP Package for comparison against the cost proposal submitted by the CM/GC.

Environmental Approvals:

State-level environmental review (Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act [MEPA]) was completed in July 2010.  Federal-level environmental review (National Environmental Policy Act [NEPA]) documents were submitted to the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) in September 2011, and a public hearing was held on October 20, 2011.  A Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) was issued by the FTA on July 9, 2012.  The July 2012 release of a FONSI completed the federal-level environmental review process. This date was approximately seven months later than anticipated based on the schedule developed for the Green Line Extension project.

Funding Approvals:

MassDOT is pursuing federal funding – through the competitive New Starts program managed by FTA – to support the design and construction of the Green Line Extension project. The Green Line Extension project is, in many ways, an excellent candidate project for the New Starts program. The FTA issued preliminary guidance and thresholds policy in December, 2012 providing direction on how projects would be measured and rated.  In June 2012, FTA rated the Project as a “Medium” and gave their approval for the Project to enter the Preliminary Engineering phase.  Upon Congressional approval of Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21^st Century (MAP-21), the Project’s status was revised by FTA from Preliminary Engineering to Engineering, allowing the Project to begin planning for submission of the Full Funding Grant Agreement (FFGA) application.

As part of the 2013 State Legislative Transportation Funding Plan completed earlier this year, the target budget for the Green Line Extension project, inclusive of all capital costs, new vehicles, design costs, and real estate acquisitions, was determined to be $1.33 billion. 1 All appropriate steps are being taken to stay within that budget and to value-engineer the Project to find ways to reduce costs without reducing the  scope or its benefits. The MBTA, the Design team and the PM/CM are working closely with the CM/GC team to find creative ways to maintain costs so as to deliver the Project at or below the $1.33 billion Project budget. 

During September and October of this year, the MBTA Green Line Extension team developed and submitted a Fiscal Year 2015 (FY15) New Starts Update and an updated GLX Project Finance Plan to FTA.  Upon review of this material by FTA, it is anticipated that the Project will be favorably rated such that it will be included in the FY15 Federal budget. The Federal budget information is expected to be released in early February 2014 and is needed to support the filing of the FFGA application. Thus, the submission of the FY15 New Starts Update and the GLX Project Finance Plan was a major step forward for the Program.

In concert with the FTA’s updated January 2013 MAP-21 guidance, the GLX team developed a Program schedule which established a roadmap of steps needed to establish an updated Project budget based on the submission of the APE design in September 2013 and a targeted submittal of the FFGA application in February 2014.  These steps were to be completed in a five month timeframe from the submission of the APE design package and included the submission of the FY 2015 New Starts Update and GLX Project Finance Plan (completed), holding a risk workshop, completion of Project cost estimating work and culminating with the submission of the FFGA application. 

The GLX team’s goal was to reach an estimate completion level in early November to support the risk workshop planned for the late November timeframe.  However, as this milestone date approached, it was determined that the estimate work had not reached the level of completion and verification needed for the risk workshop due to a number of factors including -: design changes and interpretation of foul time. 

The additional time needed to resolve these items and the advancement of the estimating effort will allow for a more uniform series of estimating assumptions to be obtained, thereby allowing the development of a more representative estimate of costs, which is critical at this juncture since the estimate will be used to establish the Project costs in the FFGA application.  However, the time required to complete these activities has necessitated the postponement of the risk workshop to the end of January 2014.  In turn, the results generated from the risk workshop will be delayed and the date that the proposed budget will be available will be pushed into the latter half of February, postponing the filing of the FFGA to mid-April 2014, from the previously scheduled February 2014 filing.   

The GLX team acknowledges that the postponement of the risk workshop and following activities has the potential to push out the date to receive the for the executed FFGA (and the subsequent approval to start the bulk of the construction) by about two months. The team also recognizes that the time needed to gain approval of advance work and to establish the FFGA with FTA is variable.  In fact, it has always been acknowledged that this review/approval timeframe may be either longer or shorter than estimated.  If the latter scenario for approval (i.e., shorter duration) is realized, the delay may have little to no impact to the schedule.  The team will drive to complete these activities as quickly as possible; however, the actual impact to the Program will only be known when these activities are completed.

Project Delivery:

The GLX team has advanced the Project in accordance with the revised delivery approach which divided the Project into multiple phases (described in more detail below). The PM/CM continues to act as the Program Manager, providing services as an extension of MBTA staff, with continuing design oversight activities as described below.

In September 2012, the MBTA completed the process to procure a Final Design consultant and issued an initial NTP to extend the design through Advanced Preliminary Engineering; however, the execution of subcontracts was not permitted until the Final Design Contract was fully executed in February 2013.   Thus, the commencement of geotechnical field work, a critical item in the foundation design of retaining walls and viaduct structures, could not commence until late winter 2013. 

As discussed further in this report, the majority of the GLX Project is anticipated to be constructed using the CM/GC delivery method, an integrated team approach to design and construction. Approval to use CM/GC was signed into law by the Governor in June 2012 and approved by the MBTA Board of Directors in July 2012.  The Office of the Inspector General then approved the use of CM/GC approach and the procurement procedures in late November 2012, some three months later than the project had anticipated. Between December 2012 and June 2013 the Project team completed the procurement and selection process for the CM/GC contractor. A NTP was issued to the CM/GC on July 19, 2013 for preconstruction services up to $7,150,000, for a period of 18 months.

At the September 2013 MassDOT Board meeting, the Board voted to approve the transfer of $393 million from MassDOT to MBTA and for the MBTA General Manager to award Interim GMP contracts up to this amount to the CM/GC for the construction of the Phase 2/2A scope (Lechmere to Washington and Union) and early utility relocations at three bridges which are part of the Phase 4 construction. In October, MBTA issued the Notice to Proceed to the Independent Cost Estimator team (ICE), completing that procurement. A kickoff meeting was held with the ICE team members; Program review and the independent estimate validation work is ongoing.

The CM/GC is reviewing the Project design documents and the Program schedule, and is moving forward with the estimating process based on the APE design package submittal. The CM/GC also initiated a formal system referred to as the DART (Decision Analysis Resolution Team) for submitting design change suggestions with their anticipated beneficial cost and schedule implications.  As part of the work process, an integrated work group reviews the individual DARTs and recommends selected DARTs to a Senior Decision Group of MBTA, PM/CM, CM/GC and Design team members.

In accordance with state requirements, the MBTA has also procured an Owner’s Representative (OR) to support and guide the MBTA throughout the implementation of the project. The OR provides oversight services to the Commonwealth, as well as peer review and value engineering services, and has been participating in weekly project meetings and performing review functions. 

Value Engineering:

A second GLX Program VE workshop was held the week of September 16-20, 2013 using the APE design document as the basis to further explore options to reduce costs without compromising the project scope or its benefits. This workshop was a joint effort between the OR, the PM/CM, the Design team and the CM/GC.  The Project team is now evaluating the recommendations produced from the VE workshop along with other CM/GC generated ideas, looking to incorporate those ideas that can be implemented without jeopardizing the schedule for design and construction. The MBTA Value Engineering Review Committee will met on October 25, 2013 and approved the final recommendations totaling approximately $15.8M in savings.

New Green Line Vehicles:

Procurement of 24 new Green Line vehicles needed to support the operation of the Green Line Extension is ongoing. The MBTA advertised for the new vehicles in January 2011 and held a pre-bid meeting for prospective bidders in February 2011. Proposals were submitted to the MBTA by two potential builders of the new Green Line vehicles on June 13, 2011, and have been reviewed by the MBTA Technical Selection Committee. To date, pricing in the proposals has been extended month to month by both proposers.  In March 2013, the MBTA requested the two proposing teams to update and re-submit their proposals as a Best and Final Offer to the MBTA; these were received in September 2013. A MassDOT Board decision is anticipated at their March/April 2014 meeting, with a Notice to Proceed anticipated to be issued in May 2014.  The MBTA is also proceeding with the plan to rehabilitate eight currently out-of-service cars to support the Phase 2/2A opening of the extension to Washington Street and Union Square.   

Real Estate:

MassDOT and the MBTA are presently collaborating on support tasks associated with the real estate work for the Green Line Extension project.  The listing of the potential property impacts is being confirmed and updated as part of the APE design, as small design changes may have minor impacts on the initially identified property impacts. The GLX team will continue to review the previously identified property impacts and update the list as necessary, including further definition of temporary easements that may be needed to support construction. Property needs have been prioritized by phase and sequence of GMP package and schedule development to track progress.  The Project schedule is very tight with some real estate activities behind schedule. Survey, title and environmental assessment activities are ongoing.   The appraisal and relocation plans and estimate for the current occupants of the VSMF site was developed and submitted to the FTA for review. FTA approval is needed for the MBTA to make an offer; this was anticipated in October, but has not been received.  The Project team anticipates that an offer can be made shortly after FTA approval to the property owners on this site.  The team also continues to issue Rights to Entry notices² to support both the survey and geotechnical boring activities and to coordinate with the property owners at those locations.  

A relocation consultant, retained by the MBTA Real Estate Department, is assisting with the real estate elements which will involve relocation activities as part of the acquisition process. The GLX Relocation Plan, a document requiring approval by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Bureau of Relocation before any business relocations can commence, has been prepared, reviewed, and approved at the state level.  The FTA has reviewed and commented on the plan (as part of the appraisals in review of the GLX Real Estate Acquisition Management Plan) and was reviewing the initial approvals and relocation estimates for certain properties located at the VSMF at the time of the partial government shutdown.  As stated earlier, MBTA Real Estate had expected to make these offers in October, a date which has slipped as the Project team works to get FTA approval to proceed.  Approval is expected in December of this year.

The MBTA has executed a July 26, 2012 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the City of Somerville to convey the necessary land parcels at the proposed Union Square Station site to the MBTA.  These parcels are being acquired by the City of Somerville and are currently expected to be conveyed to the MBTA in early winter 2013/2014, a date which fully supports the Project’s needs.

The Pan Am Railways agreement completed in March 2011 included provisions allowing the Commonwealth to acquire land and tracks vital to the construction of the Project.  The date for the formal closing on this agreement has been pushed back a number of times but was finally accomplished in November. This closing was needed to allow Phase 2/2A construction to proceed.  In order to commence the geotechnical investigation on this property (a critical path schedule item), the MBTA entered into two license agreements (Pan Am and HYM/Pan Am) allowing for property access ahead of the closing date.

Coordination meetings continue to be held with Pan Am/HYM and the City of Cambridge in regard to Lechmere Station and the adjacent area, roadway design and project phasing plans. The MBTA is also working on a MOU with HYM to site and operate an interim parking facility in the Lechmere area which will allow relocation of the existing parking in the area of the future Lechmere Station.

Coordination has also been ongoing with the residential Avalon Bay building (formerly known as Arch stone) and the developer for the residential project at 22 Water Street in this area regarding the sequencing of construction and the anticipated utility and streetscape improvements.

The phasing of the roadway improvements at Lechmere Station (O’Brien Highway, North First Street and Water Street) which are the responsibility of the North Point Development project (managed by HYM) are critical to the Project’s completion and  continue to be an item of discussion and coordination, along with the design of O’Brien Highway improvements.  Discussion of these roadwork issues involves the North Point developers, the City of Cambridge, and the members of the East Cambridge neighborhood association. These improvements will also require signoff from MassDOT; a meeting is scheduled with MassDOT for this month.  As stated previously, this roadway work by HYM is a critical path item that allows the new Lechmere Station to open.

The team is also negotiating a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the City of Somerville to have the Project demolish the existing Homans building and use the site (an underutilized building adjacent to the proposed station and bridge) to support construction at the Medford Street Bridge and for the construction of Gilman Square Station and other project elements in that area.  Coordination and resolution of City desired changes to the GLX scope continues to be discussed between the Project and the City’s “Somervision” planners.  The draft MOU has been sent back to the City to be revised to match the verbal discussions.

An appraisal has been completed for the NStar property on the Somerville High School side of the Gilman Square Station area required to be purchased by the Project.  A second review appraisal has been completed as there was some disparity in regard to the true value of this property.  Discussions with NStar continue, on both the value of the property in this area and the schedule and cost to off load the existing substation at Gilman Square.

 The Project team is also coordinating with NStar on the design for the provision of power to the traction power substations at Red Bridge, the VSMF and Gilman Square Station.  The GLX team is expediting the NStar work order for power to the Red Bridge TPS.

Design Progress:

The Design team submitted the Advanced Preliminary Engineering (APE) design package to the PM/CM during the first week of September.  Using this submission, as well as input from the FTA, the Design team and the PM/CM have now finalized the scope, schedule and budget for final design of the early construction packages and the advancement of design for the remainder of the Program elements. 

Based on the most recent feedback received by the Project team, the timeframe for FTA approval of Advance Work 3 approval is most likely to occur sometime between three to six months (instead of the three months the GLX team had been carrying in the Project schedule). Thus, the GLX team has adjusted their Program schedule to divide the design and construction packages into those requiring FTA approval and those which can proceed apart from additional FTA approval such as long lead and regional third party utility work.  The Project team’s goal is to have the construction documents completed to allow commencement of bidding and construction of the long lead and early utility packages in May/June 2014, and have the design of the elements requiring Advance Work approval by FTA completed in May to support start of construction in August 2014.  The Phase 2/2A Balance of Work package is expected to reach the 90% Design stage by July 2014 and ready for bid by late 2014, ahead of the anticipated FFGA execution. 

The PM/CM continues to coordinate the geotechnical field investigation effort with MBTA Real Estate, MBCR flagmen, Pan Am flagmen and MBTA Signal and Power Departments.   Field survey is also ongoing to develop existing conditions plans for the Millers River drainage work and to provide expanded survey information for the commuter rail track to support braking distance design. Both survey and geotechnical work is critical to the completion of the design.

Public Outreach:

Public outreach on the project has included hundreds of meetings and other events over multiple years.  MassDOT and MBTA staff have met with numerous public groups, elected officials, and other interested parties.  Meetings have been held with a broad variety of groups, including two different project advisory committees – the former Project Advisory Group and the current Design Working Group – and their subcommittees; design review sessions with right-of-way abutters; interagency meetings; neighborhood briefings; briefings with elected officials; institutional and business group meetings; public meetings and hearings; land use workshops; and ‘meet and greet’ sessions, as well as many others.

As the details of the design of the stations, including the relationship of the stations to the pedestrian, bicycle, and bus networks are now more fully developed, additional meetings were held this spring.  A Design Working Group/open house meeting was held in early May at the new Project Office to update the Design Working Group and the public on the status of the project’s design since its last meeting.   An additional round of station workshops including Ball Square Station, Gilman Square and Lowell Street Stations, Washington and Union Stations, Lechmere Station, and College Avenue Station were held in June 2013, where the progress of station design to date was presented. Design Working Group meetings were held in October. Planning is underway for a new set of workshops to be held in the January/February timeframe to coordinate on retaining wall and noise wall design elements of the APE package.  The Project team is also scheduling working meetings with the members of the Glass Factory Condominium Board and the residents of Brick bottom.

The Project team has continued to meet and coordinate design issues with representatives from the three municipalities and stakeholder groups including, most recently:  (1) the City of Somerville and Friends of the Community Path on the Path connections in the Red Bridge area, (2) the City of Cambridge on interim parking near Lechmere Station and Lechmere Station design, (3) the Cities of Medford and Somerville on the revised Ball Square plans and (4) the City of Somerville, the City of Medford, representatives of Tufts University and other local abutters on the Phase 1  construction plans.   The Project team also continues to respond to inquiries to the Project website with regard to scope, schedule, and overall coordination.

As a follow-up to the January 2013 coordination meeting with the Massachusetts Historic Commission (MHC) on the details of the viaduct demolition limits and reconstruction, a draft Historical American Engineering Report (HAER) was submitted in March 2013.  Edits to the HAER were completed and the final report was submitted to MHC in late May; this report was approved in July. 

Project Phasing and Delivery:

To tailor the project delivery method to best mitigate the larger project risks, MassDOT and MBTA are implementing a phased project delivery plan which has divided the project into four phases which will be further divided into design and interim GMP construction work packages.

Phase 1 Early Bridge/Demolition is using the traditional Design-Bid-Build approach for (1) the widening of two railroad bridges (Harvard Street Bridge in Medford, and Medford Street Bridge in Somerville) to accommodate the additional Green Line tracks and (2) the demolition of the MBTA tire storage building at 21 Water Street in the Lechmere Station area to provide parking and staging areas for the Phase 2/2A work. 

The MBTA General Manager awarded the Phase 1 contract on December 13, 2012 and the MBTA issued a Notice to Proceed to Barletta Heavy Division on January 31, 2013. The MBTA is currently adding to the contract some 200 feet of additional retaining and noise wall work that had been programmed for Phase 4.  By constructing this work under the Phase 1 contract, this retaining/noise wall should be completed in time to support and facilitate construction once Phase 4 is underway.  The addition of this work will extend the end date of the Phase 1 contract by six to eight months. 

At the Harvard Street Bridge, support of excavation work is complete, with subgrade preparation and construction of retaining walls north and south of the bridge continuing.  Utility relocation and coordination is continuing in advance of the installation of new storm drainage system elements in Harvard and Winchester Streets.  At 21 Water Street in Cambridge, soils storage activities continue in support of the construction of the Harvard Street Bridge walls.  Sandblasting, priming, and intermediate painting of the existing Medford Street Bridge structure has been completed and Medford Street was reopened to traffic in July 2013.  Follow-on bridge widening and final painting of the entire bridge will occur in 2014.  

Phase 2/2A will extend service from the (new) Lechmere Station to the Washington Street and Union Square Stations and relocate the bus facility and vehicle storage at Lechmere Station. MBTA’s construction phasing plans are developed so as to complete construction in time to permit start-up of this portion of the GLX in mid-2017.  This schedule assumes that, as detailed earlier, certain work activities are approved by FTA to advance in the summer of 2014 ahead of the FFGA approval.

Phase 3 will clear the site of the existing facilities and will construct the VSMF.  As the full storage yard and maintenance facility are not needed to support initial passenger service to Washington Street and Union Square, this phase has been scheduled to be completed some six months ahead of the date for revenue service to the Gilman Square, Lowell Street, Ball Square, and College Avenue Stations.  The current Program schedule for this activity is getting tighter, as FTA approval is needed in order to start the property acquisition and relocation activities (described earlier) critical to start of construction.  This acquisition/relocation process was anticipated start this month and completed by the end of 2015.  However, at this time, the process is stalled and waiting for FTA approval.

Phase 4 will provide service beyond Washington Street Station (completed as part of Phase 2 above) to College Avenue Station.  It is currently targeted to be completed by the end of July 2019.  Phase 4 also represents completion of the Green Line Extension project. The targeted completion date of this phase (without a 50% probability) was set to occur on or before July 2019. This date was set based upon a risk evaluation process conducted in 2011 and with the assumption of moving certain items into construction ahead of the Full Funding Grant Agreement.  An updated risk evaluation process, based on the APE design submittal, will be conducted in January 2014, and will be used to confirm or adjust the schedule for this work.

Potential Challenges

By filing an Expanded Environmental Notification Form, procuring multiple design consultants, and publishing both Draft and Final Environmental Impact Reports, MassDOT has met the first four interim milestones associated with the Green Line Extension Project.  MassDOT – which has committed substantial resources to the Green Line Extension Project, a top transportation priority of the Commonwealth and the largest expansion of the MBTA rapid transit system in decades – has transitioned the Project from the planning and environmental review phases to design, engineering, and has begun construction, coupled with the tasks associated with applying for New Starts funding. 

In the 2011 SIP Status Report, MassDOT reported that the Green Line Extension Project would not meet the legal deadline of December 31, 2014.  At that time, MassDOT projected a timeframe for the introduction of passenger service on the Green Line Extension to College Avenue/Union Square. The points within the timeframe are associated with different probabilities, as shown below:

10% Probability of Not Exceeding – Autumn 2018 

90% Probability of Not Exceeding – Summer 2020 

At this time, this schedule for overall Project completion remains in effect; however, it is being reviewed by the CM/GC and, as stated, will be further evaluated as part of the FTA Risk Workshop.  Any revisions to the schedule will be included in the New Starts application for the FFGA now expected to be filed early in the second quarter of 2014.

MassDOT and the MBTA continue to seek measures to accelerate the Project timeline wherever possible.  The phasing approach discussed above should provide for an accelerated delivery of some portions of the Project.  In addition, MassDOT and the MBTA have succeeded in receiving legislative, Office of the Inspector General and MBTA Board of Directors authorization to use the CM/GC delivery method described above, which is expected to aid in meeting the dates above and overcoming some of the delays that were encountered related to the FONSI and the approval to enter into the Preliminary Engineering stage of the FTA New Starts program.

As stated, a major critical path item to the introduction of passenger service is the completion of the next steps in the New Starts process which include (1) submission of the New Starts Update and a viable Finance Plan to FTA [completed], (2) any required approvals from FTA to start construction of Advance Work on critical items by August 2014 (3) favorable rating by the FTA and completion of the package for initiation of the negotiations for a FFGA [now expected mid-April 2014], and (4) receipt of a FFGA by February 2015, depending on the time necessary for FTA to complete the review of the GLX application and finalize the grant.  The receipt of the FFGA is a key milestone, as it restricts the start of construction for the bulk of the Phase 2/2A and Phase 4 work.

Finally, although the goal of the phased project delivery approach is to complete components in an incremental way, the timeline for overall Project completion listed above represents a substantial delay beyond the current SIP deadline of December 31, 2014, triggering the need to provide interim emission reduction offset projects and measures for the period of the delay (beginning January 1, 2015).  Working with the Central Transportation Planning Staff, MassDOT and the MBTA have initiated the process of calculating the reductions of NMHC, CO, and NOx – reductions equal to or greater than the reductions projected for the Green Line Extension itself, as specified in the SIP regulation – that will be required for the period of the delay.  MassDOT and the MBTA have also worked with the public to develop a portfolio of interim projects and/or measures that may meet the requirements, and have sought input from the public on the portfolio. 

In June 2012, MassDOT released a list of potential mitigation ideas received from the public that could be used as offset measures and received in the summer and fall of 2012, MassDOT solicited public comments on these potential measures.  Since that time, the MBTA has created an internal working group to determine a final portfolio of interim mitigation measures to implement by December 31, 2014, the legal deadline for the implementation of the Green Line Extension.  The products of that effort were submitted to DEP and released for final public review in October 2013. MassDOT is working diligently to receive the final approval as soon as possible in time for implementation by December 31, 2014