Blue Line funding believed to be on tap

LYNN – An announcement regarding the potential Blue Line extension into Lynn is expected to take place this morning as state Transportation Secretary James A. Aloisi and Congressman John Tierney are scheduled to join local legislators for a conference at North Shore Community College.Aloisi’s office would not comment on the nature of the announcement, calling it only “transportation related,” but it is believed that the Executive Office of Transportation has committed to funding a final environmental impact study in an effort to keep the project moving forward.Tierney confirmed that the funding was in the pipeline earlier this week, but said the Blue Line project had been left off of the state’s 20-year regional transit plan because funding is not ‘firmed up.’ Tierney said he hopes by funding the environmental study, the state will be able to find more concrete funding that can match what the federal government has committed to the project and get the plan back on the state’s regional transit project list.”We are going to work with the state to show them exactly what we can do to get that project back on track,” he said last week. “It will give the state time to firm up how they are going to get the funding secure. It is not going to be easy for them, but at least they have made that commitment to the environmental study.”The plan to extend the Blue Line into Lynn has been on the table longer than any other regional transit proposal, something that has irritated local legislators on several occasions, most recently when the state announced plans to extend the Green Line to route 16 in Medford, a plan that has since been scaled back because of economic woes.Despite several projects already on the 20-year plan facing uncertain futures due to the economy, legislators were slightly optimistic that the Blue Line project could be on track soon.Two potential extension routes for the Blue Line to reach Lynn include one path that would run through marshland alongside the existing Newburyport/ Rockport commuter rail line on existing rail lines formerly operated by the Boston and Maine railroad.A second proposed plan would extend the line along Revere Beach Boulevard through Point of Pines and the Lynnway.Aloisi and Tierney will be joined by Mayor Edward J. Clancy Jr. and Sen. Thomas McGee, along with State Reps. Robert Fennell, Steven Walsh and Mark Falzone this morning at 9 a.m. in the North Shore Community College MBTA Garage Building, Room T102.