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Boston & New England  + Boston  + Infrastructure  | 

$1.2B MBTA Drawbridge Replacement Project Advances

State and Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority officials gathered with construction union representatives to announce the signing of a project labor agreement on the replacement of the Draw One Bridge. The $1.2-billion project, in the works since 2019, will modernize a critical rail connection between Boston and Cambridge.

Draw One serves as the primary rail gateway into North Station, carrying more than 1,100 passenger trains each week on the MBTA Commuter Rail and Amtrak’s Downeaster service. The existing bridge, a Depression-era structure spanning the Charles River, will be replaced with new drawbridge spans.

The project will expand the number of tracks crossing the river from four to six, while increasing capacity at North Station to 12 total tracks. Through design-build techniques, MBTA has reduced the construction timelinefrom eight years to 6.5.

“Replacing the Draw One Bridge is one of the most important rail infrastructure projects in Massachusetts history,” said Gov. Maura Healey. “This project represents the kind of investments we are making in Massachusetts.”

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About Paul Bubny

Paul Bubny serves as Senior Content Director for Connect Commercial Real Estate, a role to which he brings 16-plus years’ experience covering the commercial real estate industry and 30-plus years in business-to-business journalism. In this capacity, he oversees daily operations while also reporting on both local/regional markets and national trends, covering individual transactions across all property types, as well as delving into broader subject matter. He produces 7-10 daily news stories per day and works with the Connect team and clients to develop longer-form content, ranging from Q&As to thought-leadership pieces. Prior to joining Connect, Paul was Managing Editor for both Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com at American Lawyer Media, where he oversaw operations at both publications while also producing daily news and feature-length articles. His tenure in B2B publishing stretches back into the print era, and he has served as Editor in Chief on four national trade publications. Since 1999, Paul has volunteered as the newsletter editor of passenger rail advocacy groups (one national, one local).

  • ◦Development
  • ◦Policy/Gov't
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