Funding for transit projects remains on shaky ground

The Globe is reporting today that MBTA and state administrators are tempering expectations on many public transportation projects, including the legally-mandated Green Line extension to Somerville and Medford.

Because of the MBTA's growing debt issues as well as current economic conditions, MBTA administrators are rethinking a number of other proposed projects, including a downtown Silver Line bus tunnel and the Blue Line extension to Lynn. Because the projects other than the Green Line extension are not legally-mandated, they will likely be pushed aside until the MBTA's financial situation improves.

Clean air regulations require the MBTA to extend the Green Line to Union Square and Tufts University by 2014. There have been proposals to extend the line even further, to Route 16, but extending the line that far is not legally required, and, therefore, not likely to happen in the first wave of the extension.

Hopefully, both the state and MBTA's financial situation improves enough where they can fund all of the worthwhile transit projects in a timely manner because public transportation goes along way towards reducing congestion, pollution, and the harmful effects of global warming.