MBTA must consider light-rail alternative to Silver Line plan

IN "QUESTIONS arise how T plans to fund $1b Silver Line project" (City & Region, Oct. 14), Noah Bierman wrote, "The T is committed under a state environmental compact to build the third and final piece of the Silver Line, or a replacement urban project, to mitigate the impacts of the Big Dig."

The legal agreement is for service on Washington Street that connects with the system, not the bells and whistles of a brand new tunnel and two brand new lower-level stations.

The project can be done more cheaply with light rail vehicles, or LRVs, along the Washington Street corridor with a direct connection to the Green Line.

So much time has gone by since the LRV alternative was first considered that its cost is now favorably comparable to the new bus tunnel alternatives.

This proposal for a new tunnel with new portals is dead in the water, and the T knows it. If the MBTA administration insists on considering only this one plan, it is admitting that it has no intention of supporting any replacement service along the Washington Street corridor.

My constituents have never asked that the solution be the most expensive alternative. They have said again and again what they want: a one-fare, one-seat connection from the corridor to the MBTA underground system.

BYRON RUSHING
State representative
Democrat of Boston