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Photo courtesy of the MBTA
Frequent shutdowns are coming to the entire MBTA system this year, including a month offline for the Green Line’s C and E branches, as the T ramps up maintenance plans.
Gov. Charlie Baker, Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack and MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak announced the planned closures Thursday, acknowledging that passengers will see significant disruptions but arguing the improvements will be vast.
The C line is scheduled to shut down for the month of July, and the E line for the month of August.
Some parts of a repair timeline will be pushed up as much as eight years through the shutdowns, Poftak said.
“The goal of all this work is to deliver a safer, modern, more reliable T faster,” Baker said.
The program aggressively ramps up a 2019 program that saw certain lines shut down on a total of 10 weekends.
Separately, seven lawmakers representing areas most impacted by an MBTA plan to shut down the Green Line’s two northernmost stops for almost a year urged the Baker administration Wednesday to establish designated bus lanes for the shuttles that will replace trains.
The legislators, all of whom represent either Somerville or Cambridge, said bus lanes on Route 28 along the Charles River Dam Road would ensure the thousands of commuters affected by the closure of Lechmere and Science Park stations experience minimal delays.
“For the sake of fairness, equity, and efficiency, every effort ought to be made to prioritize these riders,” the lawmakers wrote.
The Department of Transportation and MBTA intend to close the two stations from May 2020 until April 2021 to allow for construction of new track and a brand-new Lechmere station amid the Green Line Extension project as well as maintenance on the Lechmere Viaduct. Bus shuttles will run between Lechmere and North Station, where train service resumes, during the shutdown.
Lawmakers said they have been advocating for months on the topic and have been told “a bus prioritization concept is now under consideration.” They suggested any plans make a “bus bridge” free to passengers and consider other routes, such as direct buses to Kendall Square.
Reps. Mike Connolly, Jay Livingstone, Christine Barber and Denise Provost and Sens. Patricia Jehlen, Joe Boncore and Sal DiDomenico signed the letter.
