Arlington lawmakers are eyeing efforts to extend the MBTA’s Red Line in an effort to help residents frustrated by traffic congestion. But first, lawmakers will need to address a 46-year-old law.

“We’ll choke in traffic if we don’t get better transit in town,” said Paul Schlichtman, an Arlington Town Meeting member who is part of the community group “Extend the Red Line.”

Schlichtman said officials in Arlington — a suburb that sits about 10 miles northwest of downtown Boston — have been working to build more homes, making it crucial for the town to boost public transportation.

“The town has done a lot in terms of housing density. And if we’re going to pull that off, if we’re going to build more housing in town, we can’t do it with the current infrastructure,” he said.

Reps. Sean Garballey and David Rogers and Sen. Cindy Friedman — who all represent Arlington — filed legislation (HD 6313) this month repealing a section of a 1980 law barring the MBTA from planning or building any Red Line extension further into Arlington “unless specifically authorized to do so by law.”

The bill is a home rule petition approved by Arlington Town Meeting in May, Garballey said, and something he’s “strongly” in favor of as a way to offer traffic relief for residents.

“It’s a goal to provide more services to our constituents. You know, the town of Arlington, is made up of around 45,000 people. We are a massive population right outside Boston and there is no train service that goes through the town of Arlington. There’s been a lot of conversations within our community for decades about why that is,” Garballey said.

According to town records, Arlington’s Town Meeting voted 145-54 in May, with 11 members abstaining, authorizing the Select Board to file a home rule petition to repeal the 1980 law.

Schlichtman, who is also a School Committee member, said he hopes it will help revive once controversial 1970s plans to extend the Red Line through Arlington Center to Arlington Heights, with the possibility of stretching it further out to Route 128.

“So, the plans have been drawn, once upon a time, and we’re trying to get them to dust them off and move it forward,” Schlichtman told State House News Service.

In the 1970s, the MBTA sought to extend the line but ran into opposition from Arlington and Lexington residents.

The Red Line has 22 stops running from Braintree and Dorchester through Boston and ending in Cambridge at Alewife Station, a few yards from the Arlington border. Depending on the month, the line’s daily ridership averaged between 107,000 to 146,000 riders in 2025, according to state data. While there is no subway or commuter rail service in Arlington, the MBTA runs several bus lines through the town.

Ahead of the Town Meeting, Arlington’s Select Board voted 4-0 to recommend that no action be taken on the home rule petition. The Select Board presented several reasons for recommending no action in its report to the Town Meeting that State House News Service obtained. One of these reasons is that the board believed the law’s specific reference to the “northwest rapid transit extension” to mean it expired when the MBTA completed the Northwest Extension in 1985. Also, the board felt there were several other more pressing pending home rule petitions and the MBTA didn’t view the law as a restriction to its planning. Schlichtman presented a substitute motion to repeal the 1980 law that the Town Meeting passed.

“MBTA is looking forward to working with the legislators who filed this amendment to discuss their goals as we explore possible options for future transit to support this region,” MBTA communications manager Maya Bingaman said in a statement referencing the bill and responding to State House News Service inquiries about agency’s plans for extending the line.

The MBTA’s 2027-2031 Capital Investment Plan (CIP) specifically states it does not include funding to support extending the Red Line to Arlington, along with other projects brought up during a public comment period for the plan. The MBTA’s 2026-2030 CIP also references public support for extending the Red Line but allocates no funding for the project.

“I sponsor the home rule petitions of each community I represent as long as there are no moral, ethical, or legal issues with the proposed legislation,” Friedman said in a statement responding to State House News Service’s inquiry. “That said, I supported a law to remove similar restrictions on the extension of the Red Line in 2024 and am proud to do so again. While we may not see an extension project in the near future, I don’t believe our laws should prohibit it.”

A 2024 law stemming from legislation filed by Garballey, Rogers and Friedman repealed a 1976 law prohibiting the MBTA from building a mass transportation facility – including a parking garage or rapid transit station – within 75 yards of Arlington Catholic High School.

The bill repealing the 1980 law has yet to be assigned to a committee and the Legislature concluded scheduled formal sessions in July. Still, Garballey says he’s hopeful it will get passed before the end of the year.

Repealing the 1980 law doesn’t guarantee the Red Line will be extended. Before any plans can move forward, Garballey and Schlichtman said studies are needed to better understand how much the project would cost.

Garballey and Rep. Michelle Ciccolo of Lexington, which borders Arlington, secured a $50,000 earmark in the fiscal 2027 budget for the MBTA to “study the financial feasibility and department capability” of extending the Red Line and/or creating a Bus Rapid Transit line from Alewife along Route 2 to the Concord Rotary. Garballey and Ciccolo said they have had initial conversations with the MBTA about the earmark, with the last discussion taking place around a month ago.

Garballey also said a more comprehensive feasibility study is needed. He and Ciccolo have co-sponsored legislation (H 3666) creating a commission to assess the feasibility of either extending the Red Line or creating a new Bus Rapid Transit service in Arlington and Lexington. The bill has been in front of the House Ways and Means Committee since January and cleared the House side of the Committee on Transportation in November on a 12-0 vote.

“I think Arlington demands adequate public transportation, and I think it was a real missed opportunity decades ago when the Red Line was not extended through Arlington, and I would like to see a comprehensive study in terms of what are the future transportation options from Alewife to better service the constituents of Arlington, Lexington, Concord and the Route 2 corridor,” Garballey said.