BOSTON: MAKING A GOOD SYSTEM BETTER

Opening in late 1986 will be the 4.7-mile relocation of the southern end of the Orange Line of Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and its adjacent Amtrak route used by MBTA commuter trains as well as by Northeast Corridor intercity service. Already open is the 3.2-mile extension of the Red Line from Harvard Square to Alewife. MBTA has regularly used former railroad commuter routes for extensions of its rapid transit system. After a ban on highway construction inside Boston's Route 128 beltway, rights of way designated and often cleared for highways, have been utilized for rapid transit and urban renewal; some of the funding also comes from the Interstate Transfer legislation. Details of the two rapid transit line extensions are given.