MBTA upgrading sections of Red Line over four weekends

BOSTON — After completing six weeks of work on the Orange Line, the MBTA is making upgrades to part of the Red Line over four weekends.

Service between Kendall/MIT and Broadway will be suspended this weekend until the start of normal service on Monday morning. Bus shuttles will run between Broadway and Kendall/MIT during the closure.

There are some exceptions. The shuttle toward Alewife will not stop at Park Street, and shuttle service to Ashmont/Braintree won't stop at Downtown Crossing. The T has a guide here.

The MBTA recommends riders take the Orange or Green Line to get to either of those stops.

“We heard the message loud and clear from our customers this summer that they wanted to see results," said MBTA general manager Steve Poftak. "They wanted to see the work progress faster."

Upgrades are part of an $8 billion, 5-year capital investment plan to renovate stations, modernize how fairs are collected and upgrade services. The head of the MBTA said they're on schedule to complete the Red Line construction faster than originally planned.

“The project at Downtown Crossing that we’d originally envisioned would’ve taken 11 months to do the station – just the station improvements," Poftak said. "And here we’re not only doing the station improvements much faster, we’ve added the track work, that track replacement work on top of the existing planned project.”

Those areas of the Red Line will be closed this weekend and next, reopen for Thanksgiving weekend, and then close again for two more weekends.

Cox Media Group