Plans for `Circumferential' Subway Line Link Red, Orange, Green Lines in City

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) is planning a "circumferential" subway line that would link the Orange Line with the Green Line at Lechmere and run along the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to connect the Green and Red Lines at Kendall Square.

The new line would also include stations in Everett and Chelsea, running from the current end of the Red Line in Dorchester around Boston and Cambridge to Logan Airport.

Part of the line will run past Harvard's Medical School. Although there is currently an Orange Line stop near the school, the new segment would be several blocks closer to its campus.

At a meeting last week, MBTA officials issued a preliminary report on the line, which will not be built for at least 10 years.

Costs for the system are estimated at $1 billion to $1.5 billion, said James D. Parsons, a planning consultant who is a member of the coordinating committee.

Officials also discussed changes in bus routes that could go into effect as early as next year.

Those changes include a new route from Harvard Square to Kenmore Square via the Boston University Bridge and an extension of Route 86, which now runs from the Square to Sullivan Station on the Orange Line.

Community members at the meeting also proposed a bus route from Harvard Square to Brookline.

The report suggested moving a bus stop at Longwood Ave. near the Med School and removing on-street parking and loading in that area.

Minor highway modifications in Boston are being considered as well.

MBTA Project Manager Peter C. Calcaterra said in an interview last week that an additional subway line would serve two purposes, It would relieve congestion at peak hours at the four transfer points in Boston, and it would extend service to people in other parts of Cambridge, Boston and the suburbs.

Parsons said the committee's report was only a feasibility study. He said the MBTA must now determine if the line is cost-effective and if there are alternatives.

"The pursuit of any of these things would require a lot more study," Parsons said.

If the proposed line were built, it would relieve congestion around the Med School, said William H. Colehower, an urban planner for Harvard's planning group who is following the proposal.

"There's a tremendous parking problem over there," Colehower said. "Any improvements over in that area would be fantastic."

And Nat Green of the Cambridge Redevelopment Authority said the new line would relieve traffic jams in Kendall Square and boost development there. He added that the subway could help businesses attract workers.

"The labor market here could certainly be augmented by the labor force coming from the inner city of Boston and the suburbs."

The new routes would not require Harvard to cede any of its property to the MBTA, Colehower said.