Plans for the Urban Ring Project called for a busway along the former Grand Junction Branch, but without a station in the Box District neighborhood.

A BRT stop was to be located on Griffin Way near Eastern Avenue, about 1⁄3 mile (0.5 km) southeast of where Box District station was later built.

[4][3]: 337  Planning for some smaller corridors continued; the Chelsea–South Boston section was given high priority because Chelsea was densely populated yet underserved by transit.

One Silver Line alternative followed the Urban Ring route to the Chelsea commuter rail station; the other ran on surface streets to the south.

[10] In March 2013, the MBTA began studying an extension of the Silver Line to Chelsea via a newly constructed bypass road in East Boston.

[12] On October 30, 2013, MassDOT announced $82.5 million in state funding for construction of a modified version of the first alternative, with service expected to begin in late 2015.