BOSTON — Work on rapid-transit Orange Line was 37% complete nine days into its planned month-long shutdown, Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority General Manager Steve Poftak said Sunday as Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker visited the site of one project.
WBZ-TV reports Baker, Poftak, and other officials visited the State Street station on the Orange Line, the second-busiest in the MBTA transit network.
Baker noted the ability to work 24 hours a day is allowing projects to advance steadily: “You don’t have to spend hours getting onto the tracks and off of the tracks and having really limited time to actually do work… They can work on them on two shifts and dramatically speed up how long this work is going to take, which was the point of this in the first place.”
While Baker saying he is confident the work will be complete by Sept. 18, Poftak would not say repairs are ahead of schedule.
“I don’t want to count these chickens before they hatch,” he said. “We are on schedule. I think we are cautiously confident in our ability to do this.”
The line is slated to reopen Sept. 19.
I live in New Hampshire, and thanks to Boston area media, turning on the TV immediately pulls the world of the trails and tribulations of the MBTA into my life. Given the long suffering performance of the transit system, coupled with the political climate in the State of Massachusetts, I would bet anything that October 1st will see the Orange Line shut down, or in some face saving limited operation, anything but done on time. (Under budget would be beyond belief and if portrayed that way at the reopening, it would be later corrected with additional “Unexpected” expenses_read that cost overruns.
How about giving the patrons of the MBTA a day of free parking for every day the completion is delayed as payment for their inconvenience.
I have very rarely ridden the Orange Line. Family or other destinations have frequently taken me on the Green and Red Lines, plus Blue (or now Silver) to the airport.
I don’t know how long America’s transit systems can survive on half-ridership, post-COVID. Bear in mind, all systems nationwide were economically struggling before COVID and even then were on fiscal life support.
I can’t say when/ if I’ll next visit the Old Sod, so my most recent MBTA ride (possibly last) will need to suffice in memory. I got on my beloved Red Line at North Quincy, rode to South Station to transfer to the Silver Line for Logan Airport. The Red Line train was pretty much empty, the Silver Line trolley bus for the airport pretty much full. Tells you something. I travel a lot. Airports bursting with passengers, hardly room to walk down the concourse. I see Milwaukee County buses typically with two or three passengers or sometimes none.