LYNN — At their first in-person public hearing since the pandemic, MBTA officials presented their plans for renovating the Lynn Commuter Rail Station at City Hall Wednesday evening.
The presentation preceded a question and answer portion in which an audience of approximately 25 Lynners seated in the Lynn Council Chambers, along with a live online audience, asked the MBTA about everything from the construction timeline for a temporary commuter rail platform, to the partial closure of the MBTA parking lot.
In a slideshow, MBTA Deputy Chief of Staff Angel Donahue-Rodriguez and Deputy Chief of Capital Delivery Maribel Kelly, presented photographs of crumbling concrete on the station’s staircase and platform, along with a decrepit image of the station’s structurally-damaged elevator at the Western Entrance.
Kelly said that the MBTA plans to install new infrastructure and add security cameras and LED lighting to enhance the station’s security.
“We want to bring the station toward ADA compliance with two new elevators. The stairs are going to be replaced and upgraded, and a new station center, fully accessible platform, and canopy,” she said.
Kelly also announced that the MBTA would conduct a feasibility study to look into the condition of the station’s bridges, and work toward designing and building a temporary platform for commuters to use during the station’s closure.
Lynn resident Hildreth Curran approached the podium to ask the panel for an estimated timeline on the commuter rail station’s reopening. The panel bounced the question around to one another. Kelly said that the agency did not currently have an answer to her question, as the project’s timeline will ultimately be dependent on results of the feasibility study.
“We need to define what repairs or replacement we need for this for the bridges, so it is too early to give you a day […] we don’t have that information,” Kelly said.
When Curran asked for some sort of ballpark estimate on the station’s reopening, Donahue-Rodriguez responded that it would be “imprudent” for the T to disclose that information.
“Right now, there’s a lot of demolition work that I think a lot of people have seen going on in the station. It would be imprudent for us to give you a specific timeline,” he said.
After Curran asked the panel a third time, for the minimum amount of time the panel might foresee the project taking, MBTA Deputy Chief of Bridges and Structures Bradley Nicoll said that design and construction of a temporary platform should take, at minimum, 18 to 24 months.
“We will be providing service with the temporary station or platforms in the timeline of I would say somewhere between, default, 18 months to two years,” Nicoll said.
Ward 3 City Councilor Coco Alinsug approached the podium to ask the council whether or not the MBTA parking garage would be open for residents to use during the winter season, to which Donahue-Rodriguez responded that around 500 spots will likely remain available for winter use.
“As you might be aware, in the parking garage, the top two floors are closed,” Donahue-Rodriguez said. “We do not have enough to be able to accommodate those top two floors. Should there be a significant snowstorm, the garage would be open like it would be in the past, it would just be a much more limited capacity, so about 500 spots would be available.”
A Lynn resident, Mary Winters, asked about the parking garage demolition through an online chat.
“What are the plans for a garage at the new station? Will it be rebuilt after demolition in the spring?” Winters asked.
Donahue-Rodriguez responded that the MBTA has not yet decided a plan of action regarding a possible rebuilding of their parking garage.
“Right now, that is not what we have publicly committed with respect to demolition of the garage. We are exploring different options, but that is not something that the organization has put out publicly,” he said.
Lynn resident Lisa Pressman’s online chat question was initially met with 17 seconds of silence from the panel, before the online moderator repeated the question.
“The MBTA station obviously was not built properly to crumble this quickly. Did city inspectors check it step-by-step or who did?” Pressman asked.
MBTA Acting Chief of Capital Delivery Christopher Brennan, who was seated in the audience, approached the podium to answer Pressman’s question, saying that the MBTA’s structures are not under Lynn’s jurisdiction, and were not inspected by the City of Lynn, with the exception of the Lynn Fire Department’s jurisdiction over fire-related access.
“The station, at the time of original construction, would have been inspected by our internal forces and then, as far as code compliance with them, inspected by the state,” Brennan said.
Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at [email protected]
