Between February 2009 and December 2010, we spoke to hundreds of people about the future. A few dozen of these people were nice enough to make predictions about the future.

Some of these predictions took the form of elaborate short stories, or intricate drawings or maps.

Click on their names to see what these participants submitted to the project. (Note: to see these predictions in context, click on "Timeline & findings", above.)

(image source: Andrew Lynch. Click here to see the full map)

As for construction timing, well, it depends. Are we going to base this on how the T does things currently or "best case scenario"? Right now the T is looking at opening the Green Line to Medford in 2014. The way the T runs things I'd say its a better bet for sometime between 2015-2017. It's a shame really when you think about how fast they can build these things in Europe or China.

The idea behind my map was that this was something that could be finished and opened by 2050 if all parties decided that this was the plan and put their full support behind it. If you think about when the original subway was planned and opened you get a similar time
frame, planned in 1894, first opened in 1897, last major addition to the original system was in the 1920s.

But for a simple answer, all lines through Somerville (Green Line to W. Medford, Urban Ring) could be opened by 2020-2025. But that is "best case scenario."

(source: Andrew Lynch)