Downtown Crossing station shut for bomb threat

By adamg on Wed., 5/7/2014 - 9:13 am

The box that shut Downtown Crossing. Photo by Getch22.

Updated.

Both Red and Orange line service halted around 8:45 a.m. The Filene's construction site and Macy's were evacuated. Barricades went up around the intersection of Washington and Summer and Winter streets.

WHDH reports a ~~dumbass~~ man was taken into custody after telling Orange Line workers the box he was carrying contained a bomb.

It didn't.

The MBTA reports the man was given a ride over to Mass. General for a mental-health evaluation.

As the bomb squad examined the box, hundreds of riders sat on idle trains on the Red and Orange lines. Joey J reports:

My MBTA train was stuck for a good 15 minutes. Then to make matters worse, some dude pulled out his ukulele.

Around 9:40 a.m., riders on the Orange Line were told normal service was resuming. By 9:50 a.m., little evidence remained of the shutdown, beyond some police tape still clinging to some walls. Erhu Guy was on the Oak Grove platform, busy erhuing.

Workers on the Filene's project got an unscheduled break. Photo by Nick Green):

Topics:

The T

Neighborhoods:

Downtown

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Comments

Map

By BostonUrbEx
Wed, 05/07/2014 - 9:20am

[img]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BnCQ4dwCMAAoXGn.png:la...

All clear

By BostonUrbEx
Wed, 05/07/2014 - 9:40am

Updated map rendered outdated at 9:30am. All service is to resume as soon as possible.

For love of God (or

By Yikes!
Wed, 05/07/2014 - 9:48am

For love of God (or equivalent other) don't give the MBTA or legislature any ideas with that map!

Muahaha #MBTA

By MBTA SNAFU
Wed, 05/07/2014 - 2:13pm

Muahaha #MBTA

Macy's/Markley building also

By anon
Wed, 05/07/2014 - 9:22am

Macy's/Markley building also evacuated.

There's a huge data center there

By moxie
Wed, 05/07/2014 - 11:31am

In the Macy's building, at the corner of Summer and Chauncy. Place hosts dozens of big time corpo clients. Quietly. Gotta wonder what they have in mind for DR issues, when stuff like this happens.

My husband's company has DR

By Hyde_Parker
Wed, 05/07/2014 - 4:28pm

My husband's company has DR office space that's vacant 95% of the time. When there's a big weather event, or a huge transit problem (known in advance,) or something else, the space is activated, and anyone coming in from outside the city can work there.

I assume that the data center has off-site backup, and something similar.

Adam, I've just got to say, I

By CopleyScott17
Wed, 05/07/2014 - 9:23am

Adam, I've just got to say, I work right near Park Street, and have been hearing sirens and, just now, helicopters hovering around. And my first thought was to check UniversalHub for the lowdown. You never disappoint. Truly, your blog is a great resource. Thank you!

Accurate

By neuhusky14
Wed, 05/07/2014 - 9:34am

Yes. Great post.Very Accurate. Great timing. Helicopters are everywhere. I'm sure we'll learn more.

Crack reporting

By Neal
Wed, 05/07/2014 - 10:58am

Helicopters are everywhere. I'm sure we'll learn more.

Yes, because helicopters are a great way to get the scoop on a story. Underground. In a subway tunnel. SMH.

UHub is the best chance of finding important news

By anon
Wed, 05/07/2014 - 10:07am

Adam also had the recent burning truck problems and other issues up before I could find any warnings elsewhere.

When something is totally odd, this is the first place I go.

Keep up the good work!

When a T alert says

By roadman
Wed, 05/07/2014 - 10:44am

"police action" or "medical emergency", I always know that UHub will have the real reason for the delay, closure, etc..

an ode to our kind benefactor

By Nick
Wed, 05/07/2014 - 5:07pm

When the Red Line is running stupidly late,
adamg has the wittiest couplet to date

UHub droppin the ball (a rarity though)

By AWax
Wed, 05/07/2014 - 3:39pm

Still haven't seen UHub's take on the Meter Maid's getting shot at on Washington St in Dot yesterday. Cmon Adam, any hostility towards metermaids needs to be top priority (and championed).

(pssst.....its on WHDH 7 News)

Whoa, yeah, I missed that

By adamg
Wed, 05/07/2014 - 3:51pm

Will post something, thanks.

anytime Jefe, its a team

By AWax
Wed, 05/07/2014 - 4:27pm

anytime Jefe, its a team effort here at the old Hubba Bubba

Thank you! You are greatly

By That_Girl
Wed, 05/07/2014 - 10:40am

Thank you! You are greatly appreciated! :)

It's probably bad form...

By CopleyScott17
Wed, 05/07/2014 - 11:53am

...to reply to myself, but man, if only I could get this many likes on Facebook!

Seriously, Adam, that's a tribute to you that so many folks agree.

Work

By cybah
Wed, 05/07/2014 - 10:06am

I can see all the action from my office window.. its quite a scene.

of course I cannot go to my data center which is in the Macy's building.. I just hope my hard drive array doesn't fail before I can get over there.

Phew

By bosguy22
Wed, 05/07/2014 - 10:20am

Glad the all clear was sounded before hard drive failed. I'm sure the UHub community was very concerned for you.

Concern? Maybe mutual compassion

By Kaz
Wed, 05/07/2014 - 10:54am

Having once found a hard drive failure on my main server during a final sweep of the office when locking up on a Friday, I'm rooting for him to make it on time. I wasn't our IT guy, I was just a placeholder until we hired a new one for the office and I had no idea how many more failures would have to happen to cause the array to fail (or if it had already failed).

bends over

By cybah
Wed, 05/07/2014 - 11:15am

Seriously, kiss it.

What is it with everyone on here lately, is everyone a total asshole lately? Do people really need to make snide comments about everything just to "one up" someone else? Real glad I no longer have much time for this site, I don't need the snide comments or aggravation.

Wait, wait, wait...

By Kaz
Wed, 05/07/2014 - 11:26am

But did you make it in time??

I did.

By cybah
Wed, 05/07/2014 - 11:29am

I did! The alarm moved to 'critical' and I could hear the clicking sound as soon as I walked into the cage.

So that's where the farm is?

By anon
Wed, 05/07/2014 - 11:24am

Is this the server farm that was portrayed in a painting shown last year at the MFA?

Filene's?

By Kaz
Wed, 05/07/2014 - 11:25am

It's ok, Adam. Filene's had a good run. But this is Primark's building now. You should just accept it and move on.

Tell you what

By roadman
Wed, 05/07/2014 - 11:30am

I'll agree to call the location of the former Filene's building Primark's if everyone else on UHub agrees to stop calling the sections of Interstate 95 and Interstate 93 between Peabody and Braintree Route 128.

OUT OF MY COLD DEAD HAND

By Michael
Wed, 05/07/2014 - 11:39am

n/t

Non-equivalent

By Kaz
Wed, 05/07/2014 - 11:39am

[img]http://i.imgur.com/1snqd4B.png[/img]

It's still 128. When Filene's moves back in, maybe you'll have a point.

Notwithstanding the fact that

By roadman
Wed, 05/07/2014 - 11:59am

all the exit numbers, mile markers, and legends on the big green signs between Braintree and Peabody correspond to Interstates 93 and 95 (and have for over two decades now), and not 128. But let's keep an archane designation for the sake of "tradition".

Traditional vernacular and

By gotdatwmd
Wed, 05/07/2014 - 1:06pm

Traditional vernacular and colloquialisms are important parts of keeping culture and the past alive. Are you one of those who people who took accent eliminating classes to sound like a midwesterner?

I wonder whether people in Chicago...

By Michael Kerpan
Wed, 05/07/2014 - 1:22pm

.. still call the Sears Tower the Sears Tower (instead of the lame "Willis" Tower, give me a break...).

For that matter, do they still call their store Marshall Fields?

By Ron Newman
Wed, 05/07/2014 - 2:37pm

I don't think so

By Michael Kerpan
Wed, 05/07/2014 - 2:47pm

But I do think that the Sears Tower is mostly still the Sears Tower. I loved Marshall Fields -- my favorite department store ever.

And, I still call it The

By Patricia
Wed, 05/07/2014 - 3:16pm

And, I still call it The Gahden. It's never been called the Fleet center or whatever business of the day had naming rights.

It is and always will be The Gahden.

I call it the Fleet Center.

By Ishmael Jones
Wed, 05/07/2014 - 4:23pm

I call it the Fleet Center. It bears no resemblance to the Garden. The Garden was a dirty dump, but it had character, not like this place, which has none.

Contributing to the problem...

By Mjuz
Wed, 05/07/2014 - 8:08pm

I grew up in RI and always thought of that stretch as 95 too. After living here for the past 10 years, somewhere along the line the name changed in my mind and now I find myself calling it 128 without thinking.

The signage is getting

By Hyde_Parker
Wed, 05/07/2014 - 4:32pm

The signage is getting changed. I had a friend who just moved to the Boston area email me with a serious question, "When people say 128, what do they mean? All I see is 95."

Granted, said friend is not the brightest bulb (Google search, hello?) but I assume that someday 128 might go the way of Scollay Square. Everyone knows where it is, but no one uses the name.

History lesson

By roadman
Mon, 05/12/2014 - 1:09pm

The designations between Peabody and Canton, and Canton and Braintree, were changed in late 1974 - that's almost forty years ago. The exit numbers were changed in 1985 - that's almost thirty years ago.

The majority of the large green signing was changed to eliminate the 128 shields when the signs were replaced (due to normal age) between 1990 and 2000 - the last remaining signs on the MassPike at Interchange 14 that reference 128 are scheduled to be replaced in 2017 as part of normal sign maintenance work.

Now, had MassDPW applied the same sort of common sense that other states routinely do when highway routes are re-designated (which actually happens more often than the average person would think) back in 1974, we would have a much more concise and easier to follow route system in the Boston area. Instead, we let "nostalgia" and "but it's historic" guide these type of decisions.

And, with respect, any traffic reporter who fails to acknowledge the officially acknowledged designation (by both MassDOT and FHWA) for highway routes IMO shouldn't have their job. Say a sports reporter called the Fleet Center "Boston Garden" on-air, how long do you think they'd keep their job?

...Then to make matters worse, some dude pulled out his ukulele.

Adam, you always find the best nuggets of news.

Euphemism?

By anon
Wed, 05/07/2014 - 1:56pm

Euphemism, or actual ukulele?

Downtown Crossing station shut for bomb threat

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