Newton’s commuter rail service has been dropped and station accessibility improvements for Auburndale, Newtonville, and West Newton have been removed from the State’s draft 2022-26 Transit Improvement Plan.
Without strong, reliable mass transit, housing developments along the Mass Pike in Newton, including Trio, Austin Street, the Armory, and Dunstan East, will generate increased traffic and drive up both greenhouse gas and particulate matter pollution.
This commuter rail project is long overdue. It was almost 20 years ago that then-Congressman Barney Frank secured $3 million in Federal funding for the Newton Commuter Rail Accessibility Project. The MBTA completed the design for all 3 stations in 2019. The State should not go back on its plan now.
The 2022-2026 Transit Improvement Plan will be voted on June 3, 2021. The Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization is taking comments on the draft plan until then. Contact Matt Genova, TIP Manager, at mgenova@ctps.org and let him know Newton needs commuter rail service to support its environmental and housing goals.
More information is available at www.ctps.org/tip.
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