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SlightlyStoopkid t1_iydolju wrote

>MassDOT's plan to connect the two lines calls for digging a tunnel between the Bowdoin Street terminus of the Blue Line under Cambridge Street to the Charles/MGH Red Line station.

>The MBTA estimated last year the project would cost $850 million.

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Master_Dogs t1_iydrmu1 wrote

Yes, it'll be expensive, as all subways are. The possibility of easing downtown subway congestion and making it really easy for folks in Cambridge and Eastie to easily visit one and another makes it really worthwhile even if it'll cost almost a billion.

We had no issue coming up with funding for the $20B and counting Big Dig.

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ImpressiveEffect8212 t1_iydun7e wrote

Hmmm…where is the debt from the Big Dig/who is responsible for it?

Oh yeah, the state put that debt on the MBTA and is requiring the MBTA to come up with funds to pay that back

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Master_Dogs t1_iydxfun wrote

Yeah that is a major issue. IIRC the debt payments the T is responsible are massive, like I want to say half a billion per year. It's a major hamper on our transit system when the T is responsible for paying off the Big Dig...

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crazicus t1_iyf14gc wrote

Yep, ~$500MM per year in debt servicing, and it’s a whopping 25% of the operating budget

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Buffyoh t1_iydtxgo wrote

Much of the tunnel is already there from the time the Blue line was a Streetcar line. Until the early Fifties, there was a portal that came up on Cambridge Street almost at Blossom Street. There was once a streetcar route from Jeffries Point to Harvard Square. But between the former portal and the Red Line MGH stop, there is a ton of underground utilities. Photo of the Blossom Portal is in this article:

http://www.bostonstreetcars.com/the-growth-of-boston-rapid-transit.html

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