Urban focus correct for MBTA

Since Gov. Mitt Romney’s new transportation plan will shift the state’s focus to improvements in Boston rather than in more rural surrounding areas, current commuter rail plans to extend the system to the South Shore, New Bedford and Fall River will likely be put on hold. Instead, the governor’s office will probably initiate plans to complete the Silver Line connection from Roxbury to Logan Airport, bring the Blue Line to Lynn and build an Urban Ring which would essentially connect the spokes of the subway system. Although both the commuter rail and urban transportation projects are important, the state is appropriately focusing on the immediate Boston area to best use limited funds.

The Urban Ring, with an estimated $2.8 billion price tag, is the most important of Romney’s new plans. Because it would link the spokes of subway lines with buses and trains approximating the Route 128 arc the ring would greatly increase public transportation’s usefulness for residents who live just outside Boston. Considering the time it takes just to get to Cambridge from Boston University on the ‘T,’ the time it takes to get from Everett to Somerville or Chelsea to Milton by current public transportation becomes simply unreasonable.

However, an Urban Ring would make traveling from one outlying area to another which has become much more common in recent years far easier and quicker. More residents of these places benefiting from an Urban Ring will hopefully give up their cars, reducing pollution and congestion in central Boston.

The other parts of Romney’s proposal are also integral to providing a true spoke and ring system. The Blue Line connection to Lynn would connect a community that currently has very limited access to Boston, and the Silver Line would provide more transportation options for getting to Logan and give Roxbury more of the public services it has demanded.

While residents of central Boston and the edges of its urban area will obviously benefit if the MBTA shifts its focus, those farther out will clearly oppose the changing priorities. However, the state has pumped almost $1 billion into the commuter rail system over the last decade and brought it to Worcester and Newburyport. Romney must live up to his claims that he will not completely ignore commuter rail because existing service requires maintenance and upgrades. As much as new projects would benefit the South Shore area, the state should put them on hold to pursue urban projects, which will benefit far more citizens.

Although commuter rail extensions and additions should be pursued once the state has more money, refocusing currently strained resources on urban transportation makes perfect sense. However, the projects must be carefully planned, budgeted and executed especially considering the problems the MBTA has encountered merely upgrading the BU East and Central ‘T’ stops. After all, the last thing Boston needs another transportation project that only makes getting around more difficult and vacuums up funds.