Boston’s Government Center T Station Closed for Access Improvements

The Government Center T station in Boston closed this weekend for an expected duration of two years, according to a report by Martine Powers. The renovation will last until spring 2016 and cost $82 million.

The ninth busiest station in the T system has no way for people who use wheelchairs to enter or exit the station. The current layout of the station made a simple retrofit impossible—the station instead requires a comprehensive overhaul where the Blue and Green lines converge.

“For example, when architects sought to find a place to install an elevator between the Blue Line station and the Green Line platform that sits one story above it, there was only one spot that aligned with both platforms — and that spot is where the stairs are now. Construction crews will have to demolish the stairs and rebuild them elsewhere before installing the elevators.”

When the project is done, the station will also have a new public face to alleviate “the look and feel of dreary, windswept City Hall Plaza.” Aboveground improvements will include “innovative landscaping and a gleaming, four-story glass headhouse designed to reshape the look and feel of dreary, windswept City Hall Plaza.”