MA: North Station bridge project to take eight years, contract out for bid next year, MBTA boss says

A project to replace a key rail bridge leading into North Station using $472 million in federal funds will take eight years once construction starts and a contract will be “on the street” for the job next year, MBTA General Manager Phillip Eng said at the transit hub Thursday morning.

The bridge, known as the North Station Draw One Bridge, is a critical piece of infrastructure for the local rail network, carrying both MBTA Commuter Rail and Amtrak trains and serving roughly 11.2 million passengers each year, according to Massachusetts federal lawmakers.

The federal grant to replace the 100-year-old bridge — and renovate Platform F at North Station — is the largest the MBTA has won to date, according to the transit agency. At a press conference in the middle of the station, Eng said building a new bridge will improve safety and give “peace of mind to everybody.”

Eng said the money will be used to construct three vertical lift bridges, a signal tower, signals, control tower, provide for a “comprehensive upgrade” of track and signal infrastructure, and generate 14,500 jobs.

A contract for the project will be “on the street next year,” Eng said.

“The projections earlier were eight years to completion. However, I’m going to challenge ourselves, and we’re going to look to beat that. But that was the early indication of the construction duration,” he said.

The existing Great Depression-era bridge spans the Charles River, connecting the cities of Boston and Cambridge. The Haverhill, Lowell, Newburyport/ Rockport, and Fitchburg Commuter Rail Lines all cross the bridge.

Gov. Maura Healey said the replacement project will increase train and platform capacity.

“We’re going to do this without disrupting daily commutes for commuters,” she said. “We’re going to ensure that people, ideas, goods, and capital will continue to flow, and, in fact, will flow better as we help grow our economy.”

The dollars to replace the bridge come from the National Infrastructure Project assistance program, known as MEGA, as part of the Multimodal Project Discretionary Grant program administered by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren said the investment into the bridge is “long overdue.”

“(This) is a game changer for thousands of riders who pass through North Station every day, and it will make our public transit system safer and more reliable across the Commonwealth and throughout the entire region,” the Cambridge Democrat said.

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