Massachusetts Announces $1.2B Project To Replace North Station Drawbridge

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey unveiled plans for a $1.2 billion project to replace and expand the North Station Drawbridge over the Charles River. The drawbridge replacement is part of a broader Boston infrastructure upgrade plan, with completion targeted for 2032, and is expected to create thousands of union worker jobs in the state.

The aging bridge, which needs replacement, is a crucial link between Cambridge and Boston. It carries approximately 11 million riders annually and serves the MBTA commuter rail and Amtrak's Downeaster, which travels to Brunswick, Maine, according to a NewsCenter 5 report. 

Healey announced that $472.3 million in federal funding was allocated in 2024 through the MEGA program, part of the Multimodal Project Discretionary Grant program. The state has received approximately $283 million so far, with another $189 million remaining, according to a WBUR report.

A labor agreement has been reached between the MBTA and the Greater Boston Building Trades, which will conduct the bridge replacement.

"Fifteen thousand new, great construction jobs are going to help support families around the state," Healey added in a statement shared by NewsCenter 5.

MBTA General Manager Phil Eng explained that commuters will be able to watch the drawbridge work progress in real time. 

"That ingenuity and labor and skill that comes with the labor workforce is key to the procurement that's ongoing that will enable us to run service and build new movable bridges at the same time," he said in a statement on Thursday, March 5.

According to WBUR, the project scope includes adding a third movable span, increasing tracks from four to six, replacing the control tower, connecting tracks 11 and 12 to the existing rail network, and upgrading tracks and signals.