Ashmont T Station

As good as one could hope

This weekend made me a happy man.  It was hot and sticky and the MBTA knocked down the nasty barn called Ashmont Station. It has been noted by many observers that this is a long road to travel before the station is complete, so let me be premature and thank the folks at the MBTA who are doing all they can to help....I honestly believe that the men and women who are looking at Ashmont Station are trying to make the best of a tough situation.  The weather is hot, the trains are slow, the platforms are crowded and there is only one way on or off the platforms.  There are no simple answers to keeping the trains running and getting riders in and out of the station with all their limbs attached.

To their credit the MBTA has been thinking on their feet. They have added bus stops, moved fences, altered signs in a genuine effort to make the station work better for the riders. 

Will there be time when patience and civility will be worn away.?...Oh sure there will. But this is a 41 month process and even if the community, the abutters, the MBTA,the riders, the developer and our elected officials get tangled up during this construction project, at the end, we all ought to be able to say we tried....the MBTA is setting a good example at the start. 

Brave New World at Peabody Square

The machines that knocked Ashmont Station this weekend were the heralds of a great transformation for Peabody Square.  In the coming months, amid the churned concrete and clots of dirt a new station will slowly (very slowly) be built. The south part of the station will come first with a new terminal for the Mattapan trolley (let’s drop the high-speed nonsense from the name). The trolley and south headhouse and Radford Lane (more on that part later) will be complete in 12-18 months.   At the same time a new affordable housing project will be built in front of the station.

For commuters and residents the next 41 months of station construction will be marked by chaos, frustration, delays and new perspectives, excitement and hope that with the changes comes an improved and safer neighborhood.

The old station is just a pile of crumpled steel beams, concrete chunks and wood kindling today.  Barletta will keep on working for the next two weekends to complete the demolition and I wll try to keep photographing the work in progress.  See the photo album for latest images.