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It’s Wednesday. Bluebikes is offering a $15 credit for National Wellness Month this week — and those free rides could soon come in handy (just enter BCBSMAWELLNESS in the rewards section of their app):
Back on track: We just got over a brutal 10-day partial shutdown on the Red Line. And yet, the start of a massive, nine-day Green Line closure is staring us down this Saturday. And that’s followed shortly after by an 11-day suspension of half the Orange Line to close out August. What is this, 2024 all over again? Not so, says Phil Eng. WBUR’s Tiziana Dearing spoke to the MBTA general manager (and yes, also still-interim transportation secretary) about why so much of the T has been out of service lately.
- Why are these still happening? Eng says it’s about “efficiency.” During the 2024 track repair campaign, long closures allowed the T to eliminate over 220 slow zones and catch up on “about 40 years of work,” he said. But there is still lots of aging infrastructure — like the Green Line’s over-100-year-old signal system — that Eng says hasn’t been updated for decades. “The reason for these continued diversions is because, even though we did all that work … there’s still areas that we haven’t touched yet,” Eng said, adding that deferring such maintenance would result in the return of speed restrictions within a year or two.
- Why now? Eng said there’s never a “great time” to shut down a subway line through downtown Boston. But summer is “best,” since ridership is down. The T also didn’t do any major work during the World Cup, tall ships and 250th anniversary celebrations earlier this summer. Eng said packing these diversions into late July and August was “better than waiting until the fall or when people are back from their summer vacations.”
- The big picture: Eng said “there’s still more to be done.” (In a press release yesterday, the T hinted at “other outages being planned later this year” on the Green Line.) But as the T upgrades its tracks and signal systems, Eng said they should be able to reduce the frequency of such long closures: “In the future, we will have less and less of these diversions.”
- But first: Starting this Saturday, a sprawling swath of the Green Line through downtown Boston and its western neighborhoods will shut down for nine days (Aug. 8-16) for signal and accessibility upgrades. That includes all underground Green Line stops south of North Station, both the C and E branches and part of the B branch. Click here for details on shuttle buses and other alternative transit options.
An illustration of the partial Green Line shutdown Aug. 8 to Aug. 16. (MBTA)
On Beacon Hill (sort of): Gov. Maura Healey plans to sign the PROTECT Act into law this morning, after the immigrant protection bill was approved by state lawmakers last week. Healey’s office is holding the signing event not at the State House, but at the Chelsea headquarters of the nonprofit La Colaborativa.
- What it does: The legislation “provides the strongest protections in the country against abuses by ICE,” according to Healey’s office. That includes prohibiting federal agents from making immigration arrests at courthouses, schools and hospitals unless they have a criminal warrant. (ICYMI: Here are five things to know about the compromise PROTECT Act deal.)
In related news: ICE is exploring the possibility of leasing 249 parking spaces in or around downtown Boston, according to a federal notice. As The Boston Globe first reported yesterday, it’s unclear if the spaces would serve an existing ICE office or if the agency is looking to open a new facility.
- Boston is one of more than a dozen cities where ICE is looking to rent additional parking, according to the notice. But the request for parking is the second-largest in the solicitation, behind only Englewood, Colorado, in the suburbs of Denver (250). Lease proposals are due Friday.
P.S.— Applications are now open to be WBUR’s next newsroom fellows! Our (paid) fellowships provide hands-on training to early-career reporters in every aspect of public media journalism, from radio to digital to newsletters. The application deadline is Sept. 25. Click here to learn more.
