Hey, there! Log in / Register

Feds to give MBTA $66 million for Symphony upgrade

The MBTA reports the Federal Transit Administration will pay $66 million towards bringing Symphony on the Green Line into the 21st century.

This discretionary federal funding will allow for the construction of four new elevators, step-free pathways, accessible single-stall bathrooms, improved wayfinding and lighting elements, upgraded safety features, and raised platforms for easier boarding of trains. 

Although the T will begin relocating utility lines next year in preparation for the overhaul, the main upgrade work will start in 2024.

Neighborhoods: 
Topics: 


Ad:


Like the job UHub is doing? Consider a contribution. Thanks!

Comments

Much busier than Symphony, and flagrantly inaccessible.

up
Voting closed 0

Parcel 13 project will do that

up
Voting closed 0

I could have sworn the renders included a headhouse in that little plaza area between the 2 buildings... but I'm not sure if it'd be accessible. Would be stupid to not have included that.

up
Voting closed 0

It will connect to a long closed tunnel under Mass Ave, which in turn connects to the Hynes mezzanine. But the mezzanine itself does not have an accessible route to the platform level. My understanding of current and recent parcel 13 proposals is that they will be able to create an accessible entrance directly to the platform level, as part of the building will be above that area. But there is no timeline for this.

up
Voting closed 1

With the inevitable construction delays, I predict a 2028/2029 project completion date.

up
Voting closed 1

2028/2029 sounds optimistic

up
Voting closed 0

One station. 4 Elevators and a few other things. (Although raising platform sounds big). Seventy MILLION dollars. $70,000,000.

I don’t have the energy to break it out per capita or vs tax revenue, but generally it seems another reason we’re doomed as a society when renovating one subway station is nearly $100,000,000.

up
Voting closed 0

Others have done comparisons of the cost to add/renovate public transit internationally and the US is vastly more expensive than our Western peers.

There are multitudes of reasons, but it really shouldn't cost these astronautical sums. I'm particularly critical of government (every level) procurement policies that keep tacking on well-meaning but costly stipulations.

One could argue the money is worth it if the projects built lasted 50-100 years. But everything the MBTA builds ends up falling apart within 20 years.

up
Voting closed 0

Seriously! Almost $200,000,000?! I can't believe they're spending nearly a BILLION dollars on this! One T station and it costs close to $1,000,000,000,000??!?

up
Voting closed 0

is here: https://www.mbta.com/projects/symphony-station-accessibility-improvements

What should it cost for this scope of work?

up
Voting closed 0

You can't have raised platforms on the Green Line. All Green Line cars require low platforms.

In San Francisco in the early 1980s, MUNI was running a version of Boeing's LRV that had moveable steps, so they could use high platforms in the Market Street subway.

But no MBTA Green Line car has ever had such a feature. They all require low platforms.

up
Voting closed 0

If you watch the video in the link that brianjdamico posted above, it's a little more clear. These aren't raised platforms like at a commuter rail stop. They're just raising the floor a few inches to make it level with the doors of the cars, so you don't have to step up to get on.

up
Voting closed 0

Not high platforms, but something more like the platforms at Park Street,

up
Voting closed 1

Yes - they've been updating station platforms (gradually) for years.

up
Voting closed 0

They're going to skip over the 20th century altogether and bring it right into the 21st? :-)

up
Voting closed 0

I think it's money well spent. I wish the T could afford to update every station. Boylston Station on the Green Line definitely needs an upgrade.

up
Voting closed 0

There's an extra few feet of tape wrapped around that.
If I recall correctly and I'm not mixing stories (a big IF), Boylston was one of the two Green Line stations always mentioned in the context of historic landmark status and extra regulatory issues. I forget if was Boylston & Arlington or Boylston & Copley - maybe Arlington. People would ask and ask "why only stairs?" and the answer was that the historic station couldn't be altered, etc...
They finally got somewhere with one station by adding elevator(s) away from the existing street entrances & staircases and only needing comparatively minor changes underground to connect the elevator to the token booth area or platform.
Boylston would probably be more of a challenge due to even more limited space - the island platforms have track on both sides and an access path from an elevator off to the side would have issues (not insurmountable) crossing to the platform, or dropping an elevator to existing platform would be a major strike against preservation of the existing structure.

up
Voting closed 0