Boston mayor proposes transportation improvements

Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino last week unveiled a new city transportation plan for easing traffic and improving mass transit in underserved neighborhoods. The 129-page plan, a compendium of existing projects and recommendations for new ones, calls for improving the city's transportation services despite the lean economic times, reported The Boston Globe. Priorities underscored in the plan include: Making the city's new traffic management center fully operational by 2004, when the Democratic National Convention will be held in Boston; Menino said he also wants to integrate the center with state agencies to improve traffic flow, reported the paper. Other plans include: Upgrading the Fairmount commuter rail line, which would add new stations and bring more transit to neglected neighborhoods; Building the phase III tunnel for the rapid-transit Silver Line; Improving bus service and purchasing clean-fuel burning buses, said the paper.