Medford’s city administration has increased support for the Green Line Extension under Mayor Stephanie M. Burke, who joined elected officials and dozens of residents at a March 23 public meeting held by MassDOT as it prepares to vote on a trimmed-down version of the project in May.

Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone has for years championed the project, which would extend trolley service 4.7 miles into Somerville and Medford, but without much help from Medford.

But since taking office Jan. 4, Burke has thrown her support behind the project, joining Curtatone for discussions with state officials and speaking at a series of public meetings.

“Isn’t it amazing to have this kind of political leadership?” said Barbara Rubel, community relations director for Tufts University, which hosted the meeting in its Cohen Auditorium.

Residents also applauded Burke’s involvement, hopeful Medford’s advocacy would give the troubled project a needed boost.

“I want to thank Mayor Stephanie M. Burke for taking a much more active role in this project,” said resident Tom Lincoln. “I think there’s some political will developing, but it remains to be seen if this [project] happens.”

Last fall, MBTA officials announced the project’s future was in doubt after its initial $2.3 billion cost estimate ballooned by as much as $1 billion. Since, state officials have been looking for ways to scale back the project without jeopardizing $1 billion in federal funding dedicated to the project.

From March 2 to May 5, MassDOT officials are holding a series of meetings to solicit public feedback on a cheaper version of the project, including redesigned stations that would be mostly open-air instead of enclosed.

“We all understand that there’s give and take,” Burke said at the March 23 meeting, the first of two scheduled in Medford. “And we certainly are willing to work with the state and federal government. We really want to work collaboratively to see this work come to fruition.”

The T’s Fiscal and Management Control Board has not yet decided whether to proceed with the project. On May 9, the interim GLX team will submit a re-evaluation of the project to the control board, along with MassDOT’s board of directors, before a vote on the project’s future.

The state has already spent $455 million on the project and anticipates spending a total of $701 million as it closes out contracts.

“This is a sprint,” said GLX Interim Project Manager Jack Wright, in between presenting slides of scaled-back station designs. “There is an awful lot of work being done in an awful short period of time. That explains hopefully a little bit why we’re not able to give a whole lot of information out.”

Wright mostly avoided questions about a potential station at Route 16, near the Boston Avenue intersection in Medford.

The Federal Transit Administration, in a letter announcing $1 billion toward for the project in 2014, listed College Avenue as the stopping point for its funding.

But starting in October 2015, the state planned to begin spending $191 million in federal transportation funds over six years to design and build the Route 16 station — funding that was approved last year by the Boston Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO).

That changed, however, after the state realized the project’s bloated cost last summer.

“It was really disappointing that the first thing that was done by MassDOT was to run off to the MPO and try to snatch all the monies allocated for programming the Route 16 station without even talking to the other possible contributors,” said Somerville resident Lee Auspitz at the meeting.

Auspitz said MassDOT eventually backed off its attempt to reallocate funds marked for a Route 16 station. But residents and officials, including Burke, still worry about whether the station will be built, especially given the bare-bones approach being taken to develop new designs.

“I think the state has realized we’re actively in pursuit of trying to make this happen, especially to Route 16,” Burke told the Transcript previously.

North Street resident Roberta Cameron said it was vital the project extend to Route 16, given the density of residents already living in Medford’s Hillside neighborhood, which figures to become more crowded.

“We can’t accommodate any more cars,” Cameron said. “We need the transit in order to allow the city to manage what we have here today, and to become the city that we are [growing toward] in the future.”

Residents were, for the most part, unimpressed by revised station designs presented at the meeting.

Under the plans, most stations would have little to no covering for riders waiting to board a train. Only the Lechmere and College Avenue stations would include elevators to bring people from the street to the tracks. All other stations would feature ramps to meet accessibility standards, Wright said.

“I am absolutely alarmed to find out that there are going to be cost cuts to access,” said Ellen Frith, a member of the Access Advisory Committee to the MBTA. “I am angry. This is not the way to treat people with disabilities.”

Wright said changing station designs could save $200 million, with a smaller maintenance facility than previously proposed saving $70 to $80 million. He also discussed making fewer bridge repairs than previously planned and having fewer connections with Somerville’s Community Path.

“The stations as designed right now, as sketched, would would meet all the requirements that presently exist by law,” Wright said. “They are minimalistically designed — there is no doubt about that. And there are scenarios being done to look at what the cost is to go up to the next level, to raise up the accessible paths, whether it’s elevators and stairs as opposed to all ramps.

“But everything has a price tag to it,” he continued. “And try to keep in mind that the most important goal here, the No. 1 goal, is to make sure that there is a Green Line Extension.”

For residents and officials, accepting a bare-bones version of the project has been difficult, given previous plans for state-of-the-art stations and years of planning and waiting.

“It truly boggles the mind that we are here, again, after being awarded this project two decades ago, that there is a hint of not going forward with it,” said Katjana Ballantyne, vice president of Somerville’s Board of Aldermen.

Aside from Burke, School Committee member Erin DiBenedetto was the only Medford elected official in attendance.

State Sen. Pat Jehlen, Rep. Christine Barber and Curtatone also spoke at the meeting.

— Additional public meetings are scheduled for April 13 in Somerville, April 27 in Cambridge and May 5 in Medford, from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at St. Clement’s Parish Hall, 579 Boston Ave., Medford.