Red Line Extends to Somerville

There were two special I-parties along the Red Line last Saturday and everybody except Alice was in attendance.

Gov. Michael S. Dukakis joined local, state and federal officials in ribbon-cutting ceremonies for the opening of the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority's (MBTA) new Davis and Porter Square subway stations.

Red balloons and live music greeted several hundred Cantabrigians who crammed into separate ceremonies at the $29 million Davis facility and the $44 million Porter station for a sneak preview.

As the first Red Line service to North Cambridge and Somerville, the Davis and Porter Square stations represent the latest accomplishments in the MBTA's $574 million northwest extension started six years ago. Two more mass transit stops and additional Red Line improvements will add the finishing touches to the 3.2 mile new subway to be completed by next fall, according to James F. O'Leary, MBTA general manager.

"It's time to stop putting money into highways and start putting it into mass transit." Dukakis told the throng of onlookers.

The new stations are expected to provide greater access to Boston for residents of the Hub's western suburbs and to stimulate economic growth in the areas surrounding the T stations.

Neighborhood businessmen welcomed the end of the MBTA renovations, complaining in the past about sidewalks being torn up and traffic disrupted in their areas due to construction.

The MBTA awarded a grant to Cambridge merchants affected by the digging and blasting to compensate for the resulting decline in their sales, said Cambridge Chamber of Commerce President David Hughes.

The Feds

O'Leary noted that 85 percent of the cost of the Red Line construction came from the Urban Mass Transit Administration.

The Porter Square station will link the western end of the Red Line with a commuter rail service that extends to the New Hampshire border, said MBTA Board of Directors member Judith Robbins.

The new Alewife Station, its 2000-car parking garage, and the main Harvard Square station in front of Mug 'n Muffin will be completed by the Spring of 1985. The Brattle St. entrance to the Harvard Square station will open in the following fall.