URS Corporation, in JV with DMJM+Harris, was selected to design Phase III of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Silver Line in Boston. Phase III consists of bus rapid transit (BRT) tunnels, with provisions for future light rail vehicle (LRV) adaptation, from South Station to New England Medical Center. The Silver Line is the MBTA's fifth transit line on the nation's oldest transit system and the first use of bus rapid transit (BRT). The BRT line will connect Roxbury, the South End and Chinatown to the city's commercial and services core as well as to the emerging South Boston Waterfront District and Logan International Airport.In addition to the tunnel design, the project includes strategic support for Federal Transit Administration submissions, extensive community participation and outreach services, operations, project controls and administration, systems design, station design and development, civil and environmental engineering and planning.URS's Boston office has been involved with the Silver Line project since its inception in the late 1980s, having completed the design for Phase I, and the conceptual design for Phases II and III. For Phase III, URS leads a design team that prepared a conceptual design report and cost estimate for the project. The report provided a conceptual design for the 1,650 m-long Silver Line tunnels from beneath the existing Green Line at Boylston Station to a new portal near Tremont and Oak Streets and for a new Silver Line Station at New England Medical Center. Construction is expected to start in 2006, with operations to commence in late 2010. The estimated construction cost is USD540 million. Visit www.allaboutsilverline.com and www.urscorp.com 04/04.