Headhouse at North Station to Close for Upgrade

Given only a short walk down a sidewalk is required to go between T station and North Stn lobby (with no street crossing needed, contrary to press release), I don't see this as a huge improvement for T customers. Does the last line of the release

....The overall development project includes 210,000 square feet of retail, 700,000 square feet of office space, 440 residential units and a 260-room hotel...

mean that the parking lot between Causeway St and North Stn (where the T headhouse currently stands) is going to be re-purposed as a building?

http://www.mbta.com/about_the_mbta/news ... nth=&year=

Currently, it requires a short walk outside, but no street crossing. The elevator is in the headhouse closest to North Station.

During the closure, passengers will have to cross Causeway Street (never a fun task) and use the headhouse just south of Causeway. Handicapped passengers will have to travel another block to the south to the third headhouse which has an elevator. The Boston Garden development is being built on the old Garden site.

After 2019, there will be a direct passage, accessible to all, from the subway station to the commuter rail station. There will also be a new entrance to the commuter rail station from Causeway Street opposite Canal Street. Lots of retail space, more space for commuters, and much nicer than the current entrance.

The end result will be good, but the three-year closure (and major impact for handicapped riders) is a big deal.

There is an elevator at the Causeway St end of the of the Superstation. This project will temporarily remove the third elevator to the surface.

It irritates me that the new section of the line east (track direction) of North Station has had several major closures since its construction in 2004, and is due for more. It's a disgrace that part of a 10 year old station will be demolished and the causeway st corridor will be closed for 3 years! Especially when they're talking about shutting down that portion of the line AGAIN for over a year, drastically increasing foot traffic into and out of that station. I wish we could bring back the directors of the Boston Transit Commission and General Bancroft and his crew. They seemed to have their stuff together.

This headhouse was designed for the beginning to be replaced - it was not intended to be a permanent fixture, just a temporary one until there was development on the Boston Garden site. The three-year closure is utterly ridiculous, but the waste is not. All that's really getting removed is a metal shack, and an escalator and elevator that can be resold or used elsewhere.

It takes twice as long to replace a headhouse than it did to convert the entire Riverside Line to rapid transit ???

Jon

First Bruins game after they closed that side:




From: http://www.universalhub.com/2016/its-ba ... ruins-lost" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I don't know about you guys, but I certainly didn't see that coming!

/sarcasm

I did.

Instead of a corridor wide enough for a dozen people PLUS two feeder stairways they now have two (2) doors wide enough for 2 people with the rest of the crowd in the street PLUS 6-8 transit cops holding traffic on causeway street back during the morning and evening rush hours. When a train arrives it's chaos out there and the basketball and hockey seasons aren't even half over.

Bring on the Ice Capades!

eustis22 wrote:I did.

Instead of a corridor wide enough for a dozen people PLUS two feeder stairways they now have two (2) doors wide enough for 2 people with the rest of the crowd in the street PLUS 6-8 transit cops holding traffic on causeway street back during the morning and evening rush hours. When a train arrives it's chaos out there and the basketball and hockey seasons aren't even half over.

Bring on the Ice Capades!

Just sharing the pain we've experienced for years at the tunnel from South Station to/from the Red Line. A gauntlet two-people wide. They must have had the same designers!

I've been through the new walkway / route between the CR and Subway platforms 8 times this week (4 days each way) and I don't think it adds more than about 2 or 3 minutes. However, I'm usually on the last peak-period train both AM and PM so the crush of the peak middle is probably adding considerably more extra time.

I will give kudos to the T & Keolis staff for being out in force to direct people. Also the Transit Police have had at least two officers handling traffic & pedestrian crossings. I only hope the property developer is paying for the overtime.