Farewell Urban Ring (we hardly knew you)

Over the past few years, those of us who attended Harvard Master Plan and related meetings were told about an Urban Ring bus rapid transit system would be a major piece of the transportation system that would move thousands of people a day between Harvard Sq, Allston, Longwood, and elsewhere.

A couple years ago, the Globe wrote that:

"But maybe the biggest hope for Urban Ring supporters is this: Harvard University wants in, and if there is one institution that has the big money needed to make things happen in these parts, it's Harvard. With its plans to expand into Allston, Harvard has proposed a new stop, called West Station, on the existing commuter rail line in Allston and would like to reconfigure old Urban Ring plans to have Allston, and West Station, included."

On Friday, Jeffrey Mullan, CEO of MassDOT, wrote in this letter that while the State may move forward with bits and pieces of the Urban Ring plan or other projects in the same areas,

"MassDOT's current financial condition prevents it from building the Project in its entirety in the foreseeable future - and the MBTA's current financial condition makes it financially unable to operate it"