Suits look to force transit upgrades

An environmental advocacy group will urge a federal judge today to make sure the state expands the transit system, as required under an agreement that paved the way for the Big Dig, and will call for new tolls on highways to pay for the projects.

Leaders of the Conservation Law Foundation, which forced the cleanup of Boston Harbor, are to be joined at a press conference this morning by the mayors of Somerville and Medford, who plan to file their own lawsuits over the state's transit commitments.

"This is the same thing we had to do to get the harbor cleaned up," said Julia Bovey, spokeswoman for the foundation. "Only a federal order seems to have teeth."

In announcing the federal lawsuit, the foundation also plans to detail ways the state can pay for the billions of dollars in required transit projects. Bovey would not say which highways the foundation believes should get tolls. In addition, the state could borrow more money and use federal funding more creatively, she said.

Jon Carlisle, spokesman for the Executive Office of Transportation, disputed the comparison with the $6 billion cleanup of the harbor.

"The difference with Boston Harbor was, at that time, nobody wanted to clean it up," he said. "We've been spending aggressively and moving projects forward, $3.5 billion in investments from the artery commitments so far."

State transportation officials say they are making good progress on virtually all of the projects listed in the Big Dig agreement, which was designed to encourage the use of public transit alongside the new roadway system, to help the region meet federal clean air goals. There are only two projects, a Red-Blue line connector and the Arborway trolley service in Jamaica Plain, that state officials say aren't any longer worth doing.

"I don't know when CLF will realize what many others in the environmental community have already realized; we're on the same side, striving toward the same air quality goals," State Transportation Secretary Daniel A. Grabauskas said yesterday.

Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone of Somerville said the state is dragging its feet on another project listed in the Big Dig agreement, the extension of the Green Line from Lechmere to West Medford. The state is trying to get out of that commitment through an administrative procedure begun last month, Curtatone said.

"They've given us nothing but lip service on the Green Line," he said. "They haven't dedicated the funding.

"The reason they got the go-ahead for the Big Dig is that they agreed to expand public transportation," he said. "We're tired of having to breathe the dirty air from commuters from the northern suburbs."

The foundation has already sued once, accusing the state of missing deadlines listed in the original 1990 agreement. That lawsuit resulted in a consent order from a state administrative judge in 2000, giving the state new deadlines and adding a few projects. That order designates the state Department of Environmental Protection to enforce the pact, but the foundation said having one part of state government monitor another has been ineffective.

Among other things, the updated Big Dig agreement calls for the extension of the Green Line and a Red-Blue line connector by 2011 and the restoration of trolley service down Centre Street in Jamaica Plain by 2000. It also required by Dec. 31 the start of Silver Line bus service to Logan International Airport, additional cars and platform-lengthening for the Blue Line, and additional cars and signal modernization for the Orange Line.

State transportation planners say that missing the Silver, Blue, and Orange line deadlines was due to factors beyond their control. Because of manufacturing delays, the Silver Line vehicles, which will include luggage racks, won't be ready until spring. The manufacturer of the new Blue Line cars was also delayed, and the T discovered it couldn't use old Blue Line cars to satisfy the requirement to add 18 Orange Line cars.

Officials say they have lined everything up so the Green Line extension can be completed by 2011, including preliminary studies on nine alternatives.

But they say the Silver Line service to the airport makes the Red-Blue line connector unnecessary and that Jamaica Plain officials and residents disagree on restoring Arborway line trolleys.

City officials have also said the trolleys will hinder public safety and worsen traffic congestion.

Anthony Flint can be reached at flint@globe.com.