The MBTA will host its first virtual public meeting tonight for its Silver Line Extension Alternatives Analysis, a study that will recommend a conceptual bus rapid transit route to extend the Silver Line through Everett towards downtown Boston.
The meeting is expected to provide an overview of the planning study and its findings so far, and will also solicit public feedback on the project's goals.
Project planners are also starting to seek public comment on potential alignments that would extend the Silver Line busway from its current terminus in Chelsea into Everett, Somerville, Cambridge, and downtown Boston.
The current study builds off a 2019 transportation analysis from the Lower Mystic Regional Working Group, which endorsed an expansion of the Silver Line’s busways as one of the highest-impact transportation investments available to the area.
That study pitched two specific bus rapid transit routes that would branch off from each other at Sullivan Square: one branch would proceed along the redesigned Rutherford Ave. to North Station in Boston (and could potentially form a Silver Line loop in conjunction with a downtown busway proposal from the City of Boston), while a second branch would proceed along Washington Street in Somerville to end in Kendall Square.
Those alignments (highlighted with solid lines in the maps below), along with several others (dotted lines), are currently being evaluated for their utility to potential riders, cost, and feasibility.
Tonight's meeting will be held online, via Zoom, at 6 p.m. Potential attendees are being encouraged to pre-register to receive meeting details.
The T is also soliciting feedback via an online survey, available in English or Spanish, and on an interactive online map.
