The MBTA will receive nearly a half-billion dollars in federal funds to replace a Depression-era drawbridge over the Charles River, the largest federal grant it has ever won, the agency said Monday.
The Draw One bridge connects Boston and Cambridge, carrying more than 11 million passengers per year on the Commuter Rail and Amtrak trains. Replacing the bridge is a high-priority project for the T, state authorities said.
A U.S. Department of Transportation grant of $472 million will help the MBTA fully replace the existing drawbridge, renovate portions of North Station and conduct other work to upgrade the train infrastructure in the area.
The federal investment is “a game-changer” that will lead to “a safer, more reliable public transit system,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D- Mass., said in a statement.
Gov. Maura Healey’s office said the project would support 14,500 jobs, make the MBTA and Amtrak safer and allow transit officials to ultimately run more trains with “faster and more reliable rides.”
It would also make the bridge more resilient to climate change and rising sea levels, the administration said.
“We know that improving our transportation infrastructure is critical for improving quality of life and making sure Massachusetts remains the best place to live, work, raise a family and build a future,” Healey said in a statement.
The grant — $472,300,616, to be precise — comes from the National Infrastructure Project Assistance program, also known as The Mega Program. According to the Transportation Department, it “supports large, complex projects that are difficult to fund by other means and likely to generate national or regional economic, mobility or safety benefits.”
Political leaders stressed the vital importance of the span to transporting residents between Boston and communities to the North.
The MBTA’s Haverhill, Lowell, Newburyport/ Rockport and Fitchburg Commuter Rail lines all traverse the bridge.
It’s “a critical piece of infrastructure,” U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, D- 6th District, said.
The bridge “is a critical connection point for the communities north of Boston,” U.S. Rep. Katherine Clark, D- 5th District, said.
“As someone who often commutes from North of Boston, I know firsthand what a difference this bridge replacement will make,” Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll added.
U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D- 7th District, said residents of her district, which stretches through Boston, would “be better able to access jobs, health care, education and essential services in other parts of the state.”
Healey has “prioritized aggressively competing” for federal money during her term, the governor’s office said.
Other recent awards, the governor’s office said, include more than $67 million for accessibility upgrades at MBTA Green Line stations and nearly $40 million toward replacing diesel-fueled buses at the Quincy Bus Maintenance Facility with battery-powered buses.
The state has also drawn $1.2 billion to replace the Cape Cod Bridges, $335 million for a major highway upgrade project on the Massachusetts Turnpike in Allston and $108 million for a cross-state West-East Rail line.
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