MassDOT road work near Sullivan Square will create major disruptions for Orange Line riders starting on Friday evening, when the T will suspend Orange Line service between Oak Grove and North Station for 9 days.
The closure will suspend subway service between North Station and the northern end of the Orange Line from 8:30 p.m. on Friday, May 9 through May 18.
The T will offer bus shuttles serving all closed stations, but warns riders to budget an extra 45 to 60 minutes for trips between Oak Grove and downtown Boston.
The T will also offer fare-free rides on the Haverhill Line between Oak Grove, Malden Center, and North Station. The commuter rail service offers a 20-minute trip between Oak Grove and downtown Boston, although trains only run every 40 to 45 minutes for most of the day.
Unlike last year's subway closures, which had been motivated by the T's need to repair its deteriorating tracks, this closure's being done to facilitate a MassDOT highway project.
For the past year, MassDOT has been rebuilding two bridges that connect East Somerville to Sullivan Square over the Orange Line tracks and under the Interstate 93 viaduct.
MassDOT’s Maffa Way/Mystic Avenue Bridge Superstructure Replacements project has been under construction since spring 2024. In the first phase of work, conducted last year, contractors demolished and rebuilt the left lanes of each bridge deck.
Now, traffic has shifted onto the new sections, and contractors will demolish and rebuild the remaining sections of each bridge deck.
StreetsblogMASS reached out to the MBTA to see if MassDOT has offered any financial compensation for the T or its riders to cover the costs of bus shuttles and longer commutes.
We'll update this story when we hear a response from them.
Subway hassles now, bus benefits later
Although the closure will cause major hassles for Orange Line riders, the two new bridges should considerably upgrade access to Sullivan Square for bus riders and pedestrians when the new bridges fully open next winter.
The previous bridges had forced thousands of MBTA riders headed to or from Sullivan station to share a narrow, poorly-lit sidewalk under I-93:
When MassDOT's project is complete next winter, the Maffa Way bus lane, which had previously run between Caldwell Street and the Sullivan busway entrance, will extend further west, all the way to the intersection of Broadway and Lombardi Street in East Somerville.
There will also be new bus-only lanes on Mystic Avenue, from the Sullivan busway to Lombardi Street in Somerville, and on Lombardi Street:
These new bus-only lanes will support several routes, including the 95 to Medford Square and Arlington, the 89 to Davis Square, and the 101 to Medford Square and Malden, which is slated to become a frequent-service bus route under the T's proposed bus network redesign.
MassDOT will also remove one of the motor vehicle lanes on Lombardi Street to build a curb-protected, two-way bike path alongside the sidewalk. That bikeway will connect an existing shared-use path along Grand Union Boulevard to Broadway.
The new Maffa Way bridge will also include a new curb-protected eastbound bike line between Caldwell Street and the Sullivan station entrance.
Finally, MassDOT is also building two new traffic signals near the Sullivan station entrance to provide a new crosswalk from Sullivan to the north side of Main Street/Mystic Avenue.
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