Green Light for the Green Line Extension? Maybe.

Those hoping for an extension of the Green Line into Somerville and Medford may have finally gotten a some good news. Governor Deval Patrick said on Friday that the state will request $300 million from the feds to build the extension.

Now, Patrick is saying that the line should be running by 2014. Recently, Patrick had pushed the date back to 2016 because of funding troubles, and Somerville officials "threatened to sue."

The Somerville News reports that the Patrick Administration is taking a little action to prove that they're not still date-juggling:

[Patrick] said the Executive Office of Transportation has hired Vanasse, Hangen Brustlin, Inc. to start the required environmental review and preliminary engineering for the project. Also, a project advisory group has been established, aerial surveying work has been initiated and funds have been transferred to the MBTA to begin designing the Green Line cars.

Map of potential Green Line stops from the Somerville Transportation Equity Partnership (STEP) website.