The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority is renovating its station at Hynes Convention Center in a $45.7 million effort to make the station more accessible for people with disabilities and improve rider safety and experience.
The renovations will include new elevators, modernized lighting, additional seating, raised platforms, wider fare gates and accessible entrances to ensure Hynes station complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act, according to the MBTA.
A new, sheltered bus stop at the corner of Mass. Avenue and Boylston Street is another feature of the project.
These renovations will primarily benefit riders with mobility challenges, but they will also make the station more navigable for those who are blind, deaf and hard of hearing or who have low vision, according to the MBTA.
These renovations are partially funded by the Parcel 13 project and done in collaboration with the Parcel 12 project in a larger development effort for Hynes station and the I-90 Turnpike.
The upgrades are part of the MBTA’s ongoing efforts to improve accessibility within the Green Line, with “29 of our 30 inaccessible Green Line stations currently either under design or moving into construction,” Laura Brelsford, assistant general manager at the MBTA Department of System-Wide Accessibility, wrote in a statement to The Daily Free Press.
“Hynes is one of the most complex in [the Green Line] pipeline,” Brelsford wrote. “We continue to work with our State and private partners to develop and fund plans for a station that is safe and accessible for all.”
The design contract was awarded in the spring of 2020, and the project is projected to be completed by the fall of 2025, according to the MBTA. However, the MBTA has not provided any recent updates regarding the exact timeline or progress of the project.
Katarina Torres Radisic, community organizer at Boston Center for Independent Living and facilitator for the Riders’ Transportation Access Group, said the main issues at Hynes station are currently elevator outages and platform gaps.
“There are a lot of narratives of people getting their devices stuck in the gaps or even falling out of their wheelchairs,” Torres Radisic said. “It’s not just a disability issue, but it’s a safety issue for all riders.”
Torres Radisic said “it’s really important” to provide people with disabilities with increased accessibility on public transportation “because many people with disabilities can’t drive, or they have no other transportation option.”
The upgrades at Hynes are part of a larger effort by the MBTA to comply with the Daniels-Finegold settlement agreement established in 2006 to become ADA-compliant.
The MBTA reaffirmed its commitment to fulfilling the settlement with its renovations in 2018.
“[The settlement] didn’t just change the infrastructure of the system, but it changed the culture at the T,” Torres Radisic said. “ADA-accessible doesn’t mean that your system is fully accessible, but the T is committed to doing that.”
Torres Radisic expressed optimism about the progress being made, despite the changes being “legally required” under the ADA.
“We’re always excited when there are accessibility improvements in the system, no matter how small or big they are, regardless of whether they should have been here for years or not,” Torres Radisic said.
Why does this cost 45 million dollars…needed for sure, but doesn’t that price tag seem a bit ridiculous!