Planners Envision $720 Million Poured into Green Line Extension by 2016

The planning agency responsible for mapping out transportation projects in the greater Boston area envisions over $720 million being spent on the Green Line Extension by 2016, according to a recent report.

A draft version of the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization's Transportation Improvement Program report, released earlier this month, outlines the projected spending on the extension from 2013 to 2016. The project plans to extend the MBTA's Green Line from Lechmere station in Cambridge to the intersection of Boston Avenue and College Avenue in Medford, with six stations in between.

The report estimates the project should have $79.3 million in funding in 2013, $94.9 million in 2014, $235.8 in 2015 and about $310 million in 2016.

It pegs about $100 million in federal funds for the project in both 2015 and 2016. The remainder of funding would have to be picked up by the state through bonds, the report said. Along with $302 million in funding in 2016 for the line to be extended to College Avenue, the report also sets aside $8.1 million for "phase II" of the project, which would further extend the green line to Route 16, near the Medford/Somerville line.

The projections do not guarantee the project will receive federal or state funding at that level. Although and , the planning organization's report painted a bright picture of progress for the project.

The Department of Transportation has handed project management duties over to the MBTA, and a transition has begun from planning to design and construction, the report said.

"This transition to design, engineering, and construction represents the achievement of a crucial and exciting milestone for the Green Line Extension project, which has now progressed farther and closer to implementation with the support and advocacy of elected leaders, municipal officials, organized advocates, and hundreds of individual members of the public, than at any time in the past," the report said.

The draft report is now in a public comment period, which ends May 31. A full version of the draft report can be found here.