The Green Line extension has found new life after years of struggling to find approval due to financing, according to the Boston Globe.

In May of 2016, both state transit officials and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority OK’d the plan, but the extension still needed Federal Transit Administration approval before it went forward. The FTA stalled on funding the project after issues with a contractor had the project priced at $1 billion over the original $1 billion grant, for an original cost of $3 billion.

Now, the project has been redesigned and the previous contractors fired, and the cost has been significantly scaled down. With those changes, the FTA has approved the new $2.3 billion estimate, a move that puts the project back on track.

Although there are still other approvals needed from the federal government, the project jumped one of the biggest hurdles by receiving approval for the budget. US Representative Michael Capuano, a Somerville Democrat, told the Globe that he expects plans will be finalized in the coming months.

“The Federal Transit Administration does not want to say no,” he told them. “They want to say yes, but they have an obligation to make sure everything lines up, especially after the first go-round, where things didn’t line up.”

Boston is considered to have one of the best public transit systems in the country, and the Green Line extension into Somerville and Medford will improve the system and life for nearby residents. But it could have a negative impact on housing prices in a market that is already one of the most expensive in the country. As we pointed out in our 2014 story, the outcome of extending the Red Line from Harvard Square to Alewife Station had a negative impact on the affordability crisis that Boston was facing at the time by driving up housing and rental costs along the route.

Today, the nation is struggling with a quickly growing inventory shortage. If the Green Line extension has a similar effect on housing and housing costs as the Red Line extension, then it may further exacerbate Boston’s continuing affordability woes.

By Xb-70 at English Wikipedia (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons