By Andrew Firestone

After months of speculation, the Green Line Extension has been delayed yet again, this time until the ending years of the decade. MBTA officials announced that the GLX, which has recently been working on station design, has delayed opening until at least 2018, if not later.

The announcement Monday, August 1, comes after the Metropolitan Planning Organization had approved Green Line for the projected 2016-2018 budget, and after a host of separate delays. These include having to put the design phase back out to bid, controversy involving the design of the Washington Street and Inner Belt stations, and the resignation of State Secretary of Transportation, Jeffrey Mullan.

Originally conceived at the same time as the Big Dig, the Green Line Extension has been delayed numerous times, most recently from opening in 2012, to opening in 2015. While a lawsuit by the Conservation Law Foundation has made the MBTA legally obligated to build, the MBTA is also deeply in debt, and a loss of further federal funding threatens to upend the project again.

The announcement incited Mayor Joseph Curtatone to begin a social media campaign demanding accountability. Curtatone urged all residents to make their feelings known to the state.