The Government Center subway station is scheduled to shut down for two years starting in the late summer or early fall of 2013 for an estimated $90 million project to renovate and rebuild part of the busy station at City Hall Plaza, MBTA officials said.
The station is used by more than 11,000 commuters on weekdays, and MBTA officials say they will provide buses to alleviate the inconvenience while the station is closed.
Comments
What the...? We've got the desperate need for actual public transportation with the Green-line extension to Union Square Somerville and up through Medford, we've got Green-line trains running and slamming into each other down at Boylston, all kinds of improvements and repairs to make and some genius decides it's a great time for a face-list over at Government Center.
Face lift...
Let's not call Somerville underserved...lol. They have the red line (in or very close in Davis, Porter, and Alewife) and the Wellington and Sullivan stops are very accessible to Somerville and Bunker Hill for Orange line access. Never mind that we are supposed to build an Orange line stop in Somerville's hole by the waterfront "Neighborhood of the future" from which you can see the nearby Orange line stop. If changing trains or buses to get on the Green line is too much of a hassle, consider moving... This project may be a waste of money, but don't counter by proposing to waste it on something else. That glass rendering is ugly.
The six month elevator project at Park Street is now into its third year, so a three-year renovation at Government Center will....well, you can do the math.
I understand the need to upgrade Gov't Center station to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, but I'm somewhat frustrated that the T is crying poor when it comes to *extending access* to tens of thousands of potential commuters with the Green Line Extension. It will be nice to have a fancy station design at Government Center, but it still doesn't help me or the residents of Somerville and Medford to actually get there via rail...
Medford is very accessible...near the proposed Green line extension is a commuter bus into Haymarket, a commuter rail stop and two Red line stops not too far off. There are also buses to take you to the Red or Orange line. It is a suburb...if you want the accessibility of the city, please move there. And I do live in Medford and have easily commuted into town for years.
Sure, this will all go smoothly. By the time they're finished the mayor will be retired.
Well, gee, I use the T a lot also and I've never been to Government Center station. I'm pretty excited about being able to, and think the MBTA is making the right decision in doing the work quickly and cheaply. The sooner that it is accessible to all people, the sooner we can celebrate.
How about if the Globe writer actually interviewed some people who have never been there and can't wait, or an accessibility expert like Chris Hart? People who could talk about how this is a great advance for the civil rights of disabled people. Government should be accessible to everyone.
Good thing the federal government at least recognizes us as full citizens.
I totally support the idea of accessible stations, and this is an upgrade that is well worth the downtime. However, the proposed design is an energy efficiency disaster! A full glass facade? This ain't the Apple Store! Don't they know it's cold in Boston in the winter? How about something with a decent R-value? Poor job on the MBTA, which is supposed to be thinking hard about its efficiency. Now we're committed to paying for tons of extra heating and AC over the next 50+ years, and that stuff ain't cheap!
This will be an extreme inconvenience for Blue Line passengers. There is no connection between the Blue and Red lines, but it it's possible to change to the Green line to make that connection. Now there will be no connection between the Blue and Green lines.
I believe the station could be reconstructed while remaining in operation, as with most stations in the past.
Richard Daly is a disaster for those who depend on the T. He seems to have no dedication to the necessity of providing a vital service. He closed down the T for excessive lengths of time for two storms in two years. Until last year the T had not been closed down since the Blizzard of 1978.
Daly doesn't take the T himself. Maybe he'd be more concerned with his passengers if he got rid of his chauffered limo. The T should be considered a vital utility, similar to electric power and telephone service.