Blue Hill Avenue fight pivots from bus lanes to Orange Line extension talk

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Boston City Councilors Miniard Culpepper and Brian Worrell are renewing pressure on the MBTA to rethink a planned center-running bus lane on Blue Hill Avenue—arguing instead for studying an Orange Line extension from Ruggles Station to Mattapan Square.

The push lands while the City and MBTA are already working through the Blue Hill Avenue Transportation Action Plan, a federally funded corridor redesign that’s in the design phase.

What the City’s Blue Hill Avenue plan covers (and what’s still undecided) i

The City describes the Blue Hill Avenue Transportation Action Plan as a partnership redesign of Blue Hill between Warren Street in Grove Hall and River Street in Mattapan Square, as part of MBTA bus-priority programs. The project page lists the project’s phase as Design and says the expected completion year is “To be determined.”

City materials also show that at least some design decisions remain open in the Mattapan Square segment—specifically whether there should be center-running bus lanes and whether buses should have a direct left turn into Mattapan Station.

Separately from the bus-lane debate, the project page says the City made short-term “state of good repair” improvements during the spring and summer of 2024, including streetlight upgrades, refreshed crosswalk/bike-lane markings, and the start of green-roof installation on bus shelters.

What Culpepper and Worrell want the MBTA to do instead i

In their latest push, WBUR reports that Culpepper and Worrell want the MBTA to scrap the center-running bus lane plan and instead consider extending the Orange Line subway to Mattapan Square.

WBUR also reports that the councilors met with MBTA leadership and urged the idea be submitted into the state’s long-range, 25-year Program for Mass Transportation planning process. They’ve characterized the alternative as long-term, but they’re pressing for it to be studied while they argue the current bus-lane design should be paused or removed from consideration.

What the federal funding profile says—relevant to the “swap the money” argument i

Supporters and opponents of the center bus lane dispute how (or whether) federal money tied to the Blue Hill Avenue Transit Action Plan can be redirected.

The FTA’s project profile lists a total local capital cost of $162,462,372, including:

• $80,256,412 in Section 5309 CIG funding (49.4%)
• $14,850,705 from the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant (9.1%)

The same federal profile describes the project as bus rapid transit along Blue Hill Avenue between Warren Street and Mattapan Square, using exclusive center-running bus lanes and transit signal priority, plus other station and safety/accessibility improvements.

It also lays out an anticipated schedule that—according to the profile—includes an MBTA plan to adopt the locally preferred alternative into the region’s long-range plan in Spring 2026, receive a Small Starts grant agreement in mid-2026, and begin revenue service in January 2030.

What the City Council resolution actually requests i

In Boston City Council Legistar documents, Culpepper and Worrell’s resolution asks the MBTA and the City to cancel the proposed center-running bus lanes associated with the Blue Hill Avenue Transportation Plan project and reallocate funds dedicated to the center-running bus lanes to continue the fare-free bus program.

The resolution (filed March 4, 2026) ties the fare-free dispute to near-term funding risk: it says the fare-free pilot began in 2022 on Routes 23, 28, and 29, and that the program has been extended with COVID-19 relief funds set to expire June 30, 2026.

What’s next—and what residents should watch i

WBUR’s June 25 reporting adds more context on how skeptics view the Orange Line idea:

• TransitMatters’ Caitlin Allen-Connelly said the proposal lacks key details on operations, cost, timelines, ridership, and how it fits in the existing network.
• State Sen. Liz Miranda argued the Orange Line expansion hasn’t gone through a community planning process and, even on an optimistic timeline, would take more than two decades and cost nearly $10 billion.
• Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said the councilors’ proposal is a long way off and pointed to state and federal money already allocated for “real improvements now.”
• Former Massachusetts Transportation Secretary Jim Aloisi said the federal grant money is not fungible, emphasizing that the federal funding was applied for a specific purpose under a specific program.

Practically, residents and nearby businesses should pay attention to two decision layers: (1) the City/MBTA design process—including whether Mattapan Square ends up with center-running bus lanes—and (2) whether MBTA/City officials treat the councilors’ Orange Line extension as something that can be formally studied while the current Blue Hill Avenue plan continues to move forward.

Sources

• WBUR (June 23, 2026) — Orange Line extension push vs. Blue Hill Avenue center-running bus lane
• City of Boston — Blue Hill Avenue Transportation Action Plan (official project page)
• FTA project profile PDF — Blue Hill Avenue Transit Action Plan (Section 5309 / funding profile)
• Boston City Council Legistar — Resolution File #2026-0483 (resolution PDF)

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