Crossing the T

THE RED-to-Blue Line connector may not be dead after all. Massachusetts General Hospital is about to file suit in an attempt to force the state to build it. It's a good project, but so are others on the state's transportation priority list. MGH will have to assemble a coalition of employers and neighborhood groups to add political muscle to its legal case.

The connector would consist of a tunnel two-fifths of a mile long from Bowdoin Street on the Blue Line to Charles Street on the Red Line. It was one of the projects the state agreed to build in exchange for support from the Conservation Law Foundation for the Central Artery project in 1991. Improved public transit, the thinking was, would deter people from rushing to their cars once the artery was finished. The connector in particular would encourage people to take the Blue Line to Logan Airport. The project, like others on the list, was delayed. In the interim, the MBTA completed the Silver Line to the airport, a more direct ride for most than the Blue Line.

Massachusetts General Hospital, the largest nongovernmental employer in Boston, has been expanding along the Blue Line with the development of a health center above Revere Beach Station. Patient visits there top 100,000 a year. The hospital wants better access from the center to the main campus at Charles Street. It makes a strong case for the connector to enhance its medical mission.

There wasn't much reaction from the hospital last May when the state decided to give priority to an extension of the Green Line through Somerville, also on the artery mitigation list. The state in effect substituted improved service on the Fairmount rail line through Roxbury and Dorchester, which wasn't on the list, for the Red-Blue connector.

The Green Line has enjoyed intense support in Somerville, and the Fairmont expansion benefited from the widespread sense that minority areas of Boston are inadequately served by the MBTA.

In response to the state decision, the Beacon Hill Times published an editorial supporting the connector project. And the Conservation Law Foundation, which has filed suit to maintain the commitment, has gained support from employers in Kendall Square, who like the connector for its ability to move workers from north of Boston to Cambridge.

Victory in the lawsuit is problematic, but, whatever happens in court, the governor and the Legislature should agree to pay for the project. A coalition of the hospital, other employers, and Beacon Hill needs to replace spasmodic signs of support with a consistent message: The connector is not just a project of the past but an important asset for fewer car trips, less air pollution, and enhanced mobility to the job-rich Red Line corridor.