The Healey-Driscoll Administration, the Massachusetts Congressional delegation, and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu are celebrating that Massachusetts has been awarded nearly half a billion dollars from the U.S. Department of Transportation to replace the North Station Draw One Bridge. The project will allow for more train capacity, faster and more reliable rides, and increased safety on MBTA Commuter Rail and Amtrak trains. The $472,300,616 awarded to the MBTA came from the National Infrastructure Project Assistance program (MEGA) as part of the Multimodal Project Discretionary Grant program. This is the largest federal award the MBTA has won to date.

Draw One is a Depression-era drawbridge that spans the Charles River and connects the Cities of Boston and Cambridge. The bridge carries the MBTA Commuter Rail and Amtrak trains, serving approximately 11,250,000 passengers per year. The MBTA lines that utilize the bridge are the Haverhill, Lowell, Newburyport/Rockport, and Fitchburg Commuter Rail lines. Project features include the replacement and modernization of the existing drawbridge, replacement of a control tower, extension of the bridge platform, connection of tracks 11 and 12 to the existing network, station improvements, and upgrades to track, signal, communications, and infrastructure. The project will also support more than 14,500 jobs, make the bridge more climate resilient by brining it above project sea-level rise, and lower emissions.

-via Press Release