The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 22

THE BOSTON GLOBE MONDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1999 StartsandStops THOMAS C. PALMER JR. Easton residents debate MBTA proposal to extend rail service attended a town meeting in Easton recently where one of the big items on the group. A disappointed group. Stop Go strung for the first time about mid week.

The tunnel sections built next to the Fort Point Channel will begin to be floated out this week, too. Pit stops i i.vtu U3 ''P. 4 way. She got a standing ovation from the hundreds who attended, induct ing some who support the train. Kevin Paicos, the town manager, said: "We know the and we know the will not give up and will not declare the Stoughton alternative nonviable until forced to do so.

Witness Greenbush." Kathleen Griffin said her hus- -band leaves home at 6:25 a.m. so he can get a parking space before catching a train to Boston. "I think it's wrong from the get-go to say from the get-go, 'No, we don't want this she said. "It's wrong to say the MBTA is this big evil empire that's going to come plowing through through here. These towns are maxed out." Finally, a word on Greenbush.

Opponents of the third of three Old Colony lines, who had been on something of a roll, suffered a setback this month in court, when their case was tentatively tossed out. Representative Joseph Sullivan, cochairman of the Legislature's Transportation Committee, wrote to the Board of Selectmen in Hingham last week and encouraged "discussions with the MBTA on the establishment of a meaningful mitigation program." He said all that remains before Greenbush construction could begin is a Massachusetts Historical Commission review and a final Environmental Impact Report from the MBTA State transportation officials haven't officially said whether they think they can afford to build a tunnel under busy and historic downtown Hingham, even if that's determined to be a good idea. Price considerations are outstanding. In both senses of the word. Stiffed The Massachusetts Highway Department certainly let down about 30 public citizens Friday morning, when MOVEMass convened a meeting scheduled for well over a month and featured guest Matt Amorello, commissioner of highways, didn't show.

Amorello was said to have been in Worcester, managing the traffic mess on Interstate 290 that resulted from the tragic Worcester fire. A noble cause, surely, but is Mass. Highway so thinly staffed that it couldn't send jome one who knows something to pinch hit for Amorello? Is this what cost-cutting has wrought, or is having no one knowledgeable on hand a way of avoiding some tough issues? Doug Cope, who has been a spokesman for only three months, did his best to field questions, but his answers had to be mostly, "I'll get back to you." Neither he nor another highway staff member could enlighten anybody who got up for an 8 o'clock meeting to ask questions about a variety of important transportation subjects, such as: Why are towns along the Wal-, tham-to-Berlin bike path now being told they have to pay for design, when they were initially promised otherwise? Is the innovative plan to rebuild Route 3 with a public-private partnership by consequence an end run around normal poliHr-al deliberation over whether this work makes sense? How much interest will the company that's chosen to do the work have to pay on the bonds issued, which the state will have to pay off over up to 30 years? Why can't communities save their Chapter 90 money for roads and bridges from year to year, especially when the Cellucci administration plans to cut it by a third? Or can they? Why did Mass. Highway send a letter telling cities and towns to start paying for maintenance of bridges that previously have been taken care of by the state? We don't know. "The commissioner is willing to go anywhere, anytime to talk with anyone," Cope told the MOVEMass warrant was the MBTA's plan to extend rail service to the communities of New Bedford and Fall River -right through Easton.

It's the so-called Stoughton option. The has dumped a couple of other routes that were thought to be contenders. The MiddleboroughLa-keville Branch of Old Colony can't handle the traffic, and the Attleboro Line already has more than its share, with all those trains going south to Providence. First of all, we must say it is an exhilarating experience to drop in on such an example of democracy at work. The debate was high-minded (and almost always focused).

The town manager seemed to know what he was talking about. Train debates are often contentious, as we've seen in the furor over the Greenbush Line in Hingham. Article 14 on the warrant was to vote on whether to set aside $40,000 "to pay for legal, consulting, and other costs relative to the continued opposition to the proposed extension of commuter rail services to and through the Town of Easton." The item passed, and we learned a couple of things from the discussion. One, opponents outnumber supporters of the rail line, but a couple of brave supporters spoke up. Two, the MBTA has a ton of work to do down in this the area if it is to sell this project.

"This report from the MBTA is probably as phony as you'll ever see," said one resident, and not a lot of people disagreed with that. State environmental officials had disagreed with the authority's assessment that the environmental impacts would be greater if it went the Attleboro route than through Easton and Raynham. Assistant town administrator Martha White was credited with putting together the package that helped convince Environmental Affairs officials there might be a better ur photo today falls into that category of, "Does this really make sense?" Kind of like the ones that say "Seek alternate routes" when there aren't any. That guy Manuel we tagged for running a red light on Centre Street recently went through just such a signal. It blinks yellow on and off most of the time and then it goes red periodically whether or not there's an opposing car at the intersection.

These "traffic calming" measures may make sense in some neighborhoods. But they build a lot of resentment and that turns into disobedience. Drivers see that blinking yellow, know it's timed to go red as they approach, so they speed up. Take Centre Street. Driving outbound, there are two of them.

We put the odometer on it the other day and found they're spaced about one-tenth of a mile apart. So as you come out of the rotary at Arborway, even if there is no other traffic around, you may be stopped once, then just out of first gear, once again. You asked glibly passed along information from the MBTA last week that Route 128 Station formerly had 850 spaces and now, with the new garage, will have 2,750. Turns out that, though technically true, that's not the entire picture. The newsletter of the Artery Oversight Committee, which watches the Big Dig's record on environmental commitments, got caught recently the same way we did.

That 2,750 number is when it's all done which won't be until at least 2005. The 686 spaces on the top floor can't be used, by agreement with Dedham and Westwood, until better ramp access to Route 128 is installed. Beyond that, there were 250 spaces on Greenlodge Street that existed before in addition to the 850 1 GLOBE STAFF PHOTO DAVID RYAN Traffic signs such as this one on Centre Street in Boston may be sending conflicting and confusing signals to commuters. that a spokesman told us about. And those aren't coming back.

Finally, 550 spaces in the garage will be reserved for Amtrak intercity rail riders. So the increase in capacity of that nice new garage is hardly what was suggested last week. A source who has sifted through all this says there will be only 582 new spaces for commuters. Anthony mourned the loss of the fake tree that the Big Dig had hanging on its billboard as you drove into the Dewey Square Tunnel going north. "The tree is in storage," said Turnpike spokesman Bob Bliss.

"You will see it again on another billboard." Speaking of the Big Dig: Lots happening. The northbound lanes being built under the Red Line at South Station have broken through, and there is now an entire tunnel box for cars beneath the trains. Also, according to spokesman Terry Brown, workers have completed the first section of the tunnel to be "jacked," or hydraulically shoved along, underground. This 150-foot section is near Kneeland Street. Up north, on the 10-lane Charles River Bridge, the cables that will hold up the deck are scheduled to be St $9ih FIREE loston Mayor Thomas M.

Men- fcino has created a Boston Bicy- 'cle Advisory Committee, which held its first meeting this month. Call Erin Clark 563-2559 for information US Representative James McGovern got an award from the New England Safe Roads Coalition for fighting to keep bigger trucks, those over 80,000 pounds, off the highways Environmentalists aren't happy about it, but the Southeast Expressway's Zipper Lane is now formally restricted to two or more in a vehicle, not three. You can't get there. The Central Artery northbound offramp to Causeway Street and North Station will be closed five nights, tonight through Saturday morning, 11 p.m.-5 a.m. The Central Artery northbound ramp to Storrow Drive will be closed two nights, 11 p.m.-5 a.m., Friday night through Sunday morning.

For Big Dig construction. Hudson Street will be closed today through Wednesay, 7 a.m.-10 p.m., and Thursday through Dec. 23, 7 a.m.-4:30 p.m. To enter, take Knee-land Street to Harrison Street and a left onto Tai Tung Street. The eastbound lanes of the Mass.

Pike will be closed at the Prudential Center exit on Friday and Saturday nights beginning this weekend and ending the weekend of Jan. 8. Also, the Southeast Expressway exit northbound to the Turnpike will be closed. Detours will be marked. Courtesy of the Big Dig.

There's two hours of free parking at Boston's 7,200 parking meters on Christmas and New Year's Eve and on the remaining few Saturdays through the end of the year. We answer as many inquiries each week as space alknvs. Please, no phone calls. You can reach us on E-mail at startsglobe.com. The col umn is also on Globe Online at which can be found at httpvTwww Use tlte keyword starts.

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