| The Urban Ring is a project of
the MBTA to develop a circumferential transportation route. It would run
around the urban core, located approximately two miles out from downtown
Boston. It would allow riders entering the city on the MBTA’s rapid
transit, commuter rail, and bus lines to transfer to this new system to
get to their destinations without having to go all the way into
downtown, thereby easing the stress on the subway's central transfer
stations. In seeking to build this line “on the cheap” by making it
initially a bus system, the construction of its tunnels and busways
risks wasting hundreds of millions of dollars to create something that
cannot function well—if it works at all.
Phase 2 of the Urban Ring, now being planned as Bus Rapid Transit (BRT),
purports to be a penny-wise alternative to a full-blown rail transit
development along this corridor.
Upon closer examination, however, it is questionable whether this
project can accomplish its stated objectives. The Phase 2 BRT system is
not a truly circumferential line, but a series of six overlapping bus
lines forming tangents of a circle. Thus it would be necessary to
transfer repeatedly to go any distance along its route, defeating the
very purpose of a circumferential line. While it is touted as an example
of Bus Rapid Transit technology, only portions of the route are to run
on dedicated rights of way, meaning that the bulk of its mileage will be
in mixed traffic, while some neighborhood streets like Melnea Cass
Boulevard and Ruggles Street may be substantially widened to accommodate
the added traffic. Currently there are four options, with different
combinations of street, tunnel and private rights of way along its
route.
The Urban Ring's high cost would likely preclude the building of the
Ring’s final, Phase 3 rail component (currently planned to traverse only
the more affluent half of the Ring, avoiding such underserved areas as
Chelsea, East Somerville and North Dorchester). While initially more
expensive, it would be far more cost-effective of our precious tax
dollars to construct the Urban Ring “right” in the first place, as a
rapid transit or light rail transit line to create a project that would
better serve the people who live and work in Greater Boston.
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