OWNERSHIP
CONDITONS
CONTEXT
HISTORY
PLANNING PROCESSES
ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
DESIGN ISSUES
TESTIMONIES

OWNERSHIP:
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA)

Back to top

CONDITIONS: 
As of January 2007, there is no green line service through the Heart of the City. The Arborway E Green Line ran from Park Street to the Longwood Medical Center area, then on to South Huntington Avenue, Centre Street, and South Street, until 1985. The tracks through the Heart of the City still remain despite multiple re-pavings and other work done on the roads.

Back to top

CONTEXT:
Currently, the South Huntington/ Centre/ South Street corridor is serviced by the Route 39 bus, which leaves at least once every 10 minutes and runs 20 hours a day. It is the most heavily used bus route in the system, accounting for almost 5% of all MBTA bus riders. Bus #41 also serves Centre/ South Street and leads to Jackson Square.

A 1999 MBTA report found that 70% of bus riders along this corridor live within a 5-minute walk of a bus stop and that there is a higher than metro-average transit dependent population in this area throughout the day. The MBTA also found that buses do not significantly contribute to congestion on Centre/ South Street.

Back to top

HISTORY:
The first streetcar tracks were laid on Centre Street in the 1870s. Horse drawn public transit was eventually replaced by light rail service featuring Presidential Conference Cars (PCCs). The service ran from Forest Hills station to Park Street station in Downtown Boston via the MBTA's "E" branch of the Green Line. In December 1985, the service was suspended for the reconstruction of Huntington Avenue. The service was later partially restored through Heath Street in northern Jamaica Plain, but the section from Heath Street to Forest Hills was not. The route 39 Bus currently serves the remainder of the corridor from Heath Street to Forest Hills.

Beginning in 1986 and continuing through 2001, there has been a struggle between trolley advocates and the MBTA. Throughout this period, the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Council has been in support of the return of Arborway service.

In 1986, there was a non-binding referendum vote on the state ballot favoring retention of Arborway Green Line service by a margin of 67% to 33%. In 1989, State legislators, the City, and the MBTA agreed to restore the service. In 1991, a State transportation bond bill authorized the expenditure of $10 million by the MBTA for construction of a light rail facility at the Arborway Yard. In 1994, the US Environmental Protection Agency approved the Arborway Green Line restoration as part of the Massachusetts State Implementation Plan. In 1995, a State transportation bond bill authorized a $20 million reconstruction of the Arborway Green Line. The City published a five-year capital plan in 1995 that called for the reconstruction of South Street from Centre Street to the Arborway in preparation for restoration of the trolley (the cost was expected to be $2.4 million of Federal money). On November 7, 2001, the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, through the DEP, ruled that the restoration of the Arborway Green Line is feasible, and therefore must proceed.

Back to top

PLANNING PROCESSES:
On March 21, 2002 the MBTA announced that "The architect and design firms VHB and HNTB, both with offices in Boston, will form a partnership on the project, which will extend rail service to the Arborway via Green Line trains. A preliminary design for the project, which involves a major reconfiguration of traffic and parking, is expected to be completed in March 2003."

Since that time, as the realities of bringing back the trolley have become more clear, opposition to the restoration has increased, in particular with the formation of an organization known as Better Transit Without Trolleys. The Purple Cactus restaurant, citing safety and parking concerns, collected 1,100 signatures in a few weeks against the return of the trolley.  

Although T officials are slowly pushing forward with plans to restore service, they acknowledge that the effort may not be feasible due to narrow roads along Centre and South Streets. A 2003 MBTA capital budget did not include construction funds for the trolley line.

Back to top

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES:
The Arborway Restoration Project is part of transit improvements relating to air quality that are required by Transit Systems Improvement regulation (310 CMR 7.36).

Because the MBTA has committed to the return of trolley to Centre and South Streets, the long-term debate over whether buses fueled by compressed natural gas (CNG) are more or less environmentally harmful than LRT has become less relevant.  However, according to the State Secretary of Environmental Affairs, Ellen Roy, an expedited environmental review is underway (David A. Mitchell, "Get Sentimentally off the M(B)TA," Providence Journal-Bulletin, July 3, 2003).  For more information on this debate please refer to the brief summary below.

According to the Arborway Committee, while the electric trolley will emit no pollutants and operate at 10 decibels below the level of diesel and compressed natural gas (CNG), CNG buses emit low levels of particulate matter and nitrous oxides, but higher levels of methane and other greenhouse gases.

According to Monica Barrow, project manager from Systra Consulting, emissions of non-methane hydrocarbon, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxides are equivalent for LRV and CNG alternatives at both the corridor level and the regional level. The MBTA has argued that CNG is the better and more cost-effective transit choice on Centre Street and South Street.

Back to top

DESIGN ISSUES:
Preliminary MBTA studies have estimated that the trip from Park Street to Forest Hills would take about 35 minutes on the Arborway trolley. About 20 on-street parking spaces would be lost between Green Street and the Monument and 45 spaces would be lost in total on Centre Street. About 30 on-street parking spaces would be lost on South Street between Centre Street and the Arborway, accounting for approximately 20% of the total parking spaces available on South Street.

Proposed stops for the restored "E" line are at Pond Street; Green/ Seaverns Streets; South Street/ Centre Street; Jamaica/ Child Street; St. Rose/ Anson Street, Forest Hills. Regulations require that platforms be 150 feet long. This will result in the average net loss of six parking spaces per station.

According to the MBTA, restoration of LRV service will "...require a substantial capital investment in track and roadway, power system, platforms, additional rolling stock and space for maintenance operations." The rail bed requires a complete reconstruction; the power system requires significant work; platforms must be constructed and utilities must be relocated; 19 vehicles will need to be purchased.

Back to top

TESTIMONIES:
"The return of the Arborway line will have huge ramifications for the whole area" (Andrea d'Amato, Commissioner of the Boston Transportation Department).

"This is really, really very good for Jamaica Plain and the city at large, Now that the decision has been made I think the T will do the job right" (Franklyn Salimbene of the Arborway Coalition, from an article by Robin Washington, "T does a turn on resumption of Arborway trolleys," The Boston Herald, November 8, 2001).

"What's really remarkable here is both the intensity and the duration of the community's effort. They just didn't give up" (Seth Kaplan of the Conservation Law Foundation, which settled a lawsuit in which the T promised five years ago to restore the service, from an article by Robin Washington, "T does a turn on resumption of Arborway trolleys," The Boston Herald, November 8, 2001).

"This is a seriously congested area of the city and light rail vehicles would only add to the safety problems" (Paul F. Evans, Commissioner of the Boston Police Department, March 26, 1999).

"Safety is a huge concern. We see a lot of near accidents as it is now. If you have these 140-foot trains occupying all of this space, people and traffic will not be able to get through. Parking will be lost, adding to an already dismal situation. People won't be able to receive deliveries." (Anka Theroux, the Purple Cactus restaurant, from an article by Mac Daniel, "Arborway Trolley plan challenged group cites safety, traffic considerations," The Boston Globe, April 17, 2003).

Back to top