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Assembly station

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Coordinates: 42°23′32.48″N 71°4′38.40″W / 42.3923556°N 71.0773333°W / 42.3923556; -71.0773333
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For the Hyderabad Metro station, see Assembly metro station.
Assembly
A southbound train arriving at Assembly station in March 2024
General information
Location499 Foley Street
Somerville, Massachusetts
Coordinates42°23′32.48″N 71°4′38.40″W / 42.3923556°N 71.0773333°W / 42.3923556; -71.0773333
Line(s)Haymarket North Extension
Platforms1 island platform
Tracks3 (two station tracks and one unused express track)
Construction
ParkingNo MBTA parking; Assembly Square parking is adjacent
Bicycle facilitiesRacks provided
AccessibleYes
History
OpenedSeptember 2, 2014[1]
Passengers
FY20193,977 boardings (weekday average)[2]
Services
Preceding station MBTA Following station
Sullivan Square
toward Forest Hills
 Orange Line Wellington
toward Oak Grove
Location
Map

Assembly station (originally Assembly Square in some planning documents) is a rapid transit station in Somerville, Massachusetts. It serves the MBTA's Orange Line.[3] It is an infill station, located on a section of the Orange Line that has been active since 1975. The station, which opened on September 2, 2014, was the first new rail station on the MBTA subway system since 1987.[1][4] Assembly station is meant to provide convenient access to Assembly Square - a major retail and residential development located on the site of a former Ford assembly plant - and the adjacent Assembly Square Marketplace.

Station layout

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Aerial view of station site in September 2012

Assembly station is on the east side of the Assembly Square development, on the existing Orange Line tracks near the Mystic River. The station consists of a single island platform 410 feet (120 m) long, to handle up to 6 railcars on each side.[5] Unlike Community College, Sullivan, and Wellington, Assembly does not have a second island platform to serve the (currently unused) third track, which was intended to be an express track. The station has two headhouses, one on each end of the platform. Two footbridges, one from each headhouse, cross over the inbound track and connect to parking on G Street.[6] The station is fully accessible and includes bicycle storage facilities. Sullivan Square to the south and Wellington to the north are both major MBTA bus terminals, so Assembly was not designed as a bus transfer station.

Several public art elements are incorporated into the station. These include artistic benches and a metal panel mosaic on the station façade (both designed by Artists for Humanity) and MBTA-designed panels about the site's history.[3]

Adding a commuter rail station at Assembly Square was listed as a possibility in 2012 as an interim air quality mitigation measure in response to delays building the Green Line Extension[7] However, such a station could not be completed by 2015, and the project was not supported by MassDOT.[7] The station would have required building separate platforms for the Haverhill Line and the Newburyport/Rockport Line, which split near the station site.

History and financing

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Construction work in January 2013
Platform construction in December 2013
Headhouse construction in January 2014

Construction was estimated to cost up to $57 million, of which $22 million (plus an optional $3.5 million extra) was from the state's Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development. The remaining cost was divided between federal funding including the FTA Section 5309 New Starts program ($16 million) and the developer of Assembly Square ($15 million), Federal Realty Investment Trust (FRIT).[8]

The area around the station formerly hosted a Ford automobile assembly plant, which used the adjacent Western Route for rail access. Although the plant is long gone, the Assembly Square name is a reference to the site's history.

On February 8, 2011, the MBTA board unanimously approved a memorandum of understanding between the MBTA and FRIT, which defined the funding sources for the project.[9] The memorandum was a "critical milestone," according to a FRIT executive.[10] Somerville approved the project on May 2, 2011, and two days later the MBTA opened bidding for construction,[11] which was planned to start at the end of 2011.[10]

On October 5, 2011, the MBTA announced the award of a $29,229,184 construction contract to S&R Construction Co., Inc., with construction beginning later that fall.[12] The work required 18 weekend closures of the Orange Line from Sullivan to Oak Grove.[8] The first weekend closures began in June 2012 and continued past the station opening into late 2014.[13] The closures were extended to five nights per week for the second half of 2012, and continued sporadically into 2013 and 2014.[14]

For construction, the MBTA shifted outbound trains to the normally unused express track and inbound trains to the outbound track, to give construction crews full access to the site.[15] In January 2013, the MBTA began constructing concrete pillars to support the platform and headhouses; elevator shaft construction began in the spring.[15] Construction of the headhouse frames began in June 2013, and the platform segments were laid in July. The headhouses were completed in June 2014, with work remaining on other parts of the station.[16]

Inbound trains switched back to the normal inbound track on July 1, 2014; outbound trains began using the normal outbound track on July 21.[17] The station opened to passengers on September 2, 2014, although some final construction work lasted until November.[1] On the first day of operations, the station platform flooded from a rainstorm.[18] Partners Healthcare, which built its headquarters next to the south end of the station, funded the 2016 completion of the south headhouse as a full-time entrance and exit.[citation needed]

The Assembly Square project is estimated to generate 45,000 new vehicle trips each day, and the station was intended to reduce the number that use private automobiles by diverting travelers to mass transit. In 2011, daily ridership was projected to reach 5,000 riders per day in 2030.[5] Actual daily ridership was 1,864 within the first year, and 3,997 in FY 2019.[19][2] The entire Orange Line, including Assembly station, was closed from August 19 to September 18, 2022, during maintenance work.[20]

A $49 million footbridge across the Mystic River between Assembly and the Encore Boston Harbor casino in Everett is planned. By 2021, the project was to include an extension of the station's north headhouse to the east, with direct access from Draw 7 Park.[21] By April 2024, design of the bridge was not finished, and the MBTA had not committed to the headhouse extension.[22]

Assembly Square was a proposed stop on the Urban Ring Project.[23] The Urban Ring was to be a circumferential bus rapid transit (BRT) Line designed to connect the current radial MBTA rail lines to reduce overcrowding in the downtown stations; it was canceled in 2010.[24] Under draft plans released in 2008, the Urban Ring would have run on Grand Union Boulevard, with a stop at Foley Street about 800 feet (240 m) west of the Orange Line.[25]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Hofherr, Justine (August 27, 2014). "Somerville's New Assembly Square MBTA Station to Open Next Week". Boston Globe. Retrieved August 27, 2014.
  2. ^ a b "A Guide to Ridership Data". MassDOT/MBTA Office of Performance Management and Innovation. June 22, 2020. p. 9.
  3. ^ a b "Assembly Square Public Meeting" (PDF). MassDOT. 15 November 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 May 2012. Retrieved 13 June 2012.
  4. ^ "Assembly Square MBTA Station Opening Sept. 2". Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
  5. ^ a b "Assembly Square Station Final Design" (PDF). Federal Transit Administration. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 October 2011. Retrieved 31 July 2011.
  6. ^ MassDOT (12 January 2010). "Assembly Square Presentation" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 November 2010. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
  7. ^ a b Central Transportation Planning Staff (23 January 2012). "Green Line Extension SIP Mitigation Inventory" (PDF). Massachusetts Department of Transportation. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 June 2016. Retrieved 5 December 2012.
  8. ^ a b Moskowitz, Eric (6 October 2011). "MBTA board OK's millions for stations". Boston Globe. Archived from the original on 27 May 2012. Retrieved 7 October 2011.
  9. ^ Taylor, Denise (9 February 2011). "MBTA Approves Assembly Sq. T-Stop Agreement". Somerville Patch. Retrieved 31 July 2011.
  10. ^ a b Douglas, Craig M. (8 February 2011). "Assembly Square advances on key MBTA vote". Boston Business Journal. Retrieved 31 July 2011.
  11. ^ Douglas, Craig M. (4 May 2011). "MBTA opens bidding for Assembly Square station". Boston Business Journal. Retrieved 31 July 2011.
  12. ^ Coughlin, Kerri (25 October 2011). "Construction on Assembly Square T stop to begin later this fall". Tufts Daily. Archived from the original on 4 December 2011. Retrieved 13 June 2012.
  13. ^ Orchard, Chris (24 May 2012). "Bus Diversions on Orange Line to Begin in June". Somerville Patch. Archived from the original on 3 October 2015. Retrieved 13 June 2012.
  14. ^ Orchard, Chris (27 June 2012). "Buses Replace Evening Northbound Orange Line Trains Beginning July 8". South End Patch. Archived from the original on 3 October 2015. Retrieved 28 June 2012.
  15. ^ a b "Crucial Progress Continues on Assembly Station Project". Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. 30 January 2013. Retrieved 30 January 2013.
  16. ^ Boroyan, Nate (18 June 2014). "MBTA Assembly Station to Open Later This Summer". BostInno. Archived from the original on 3 September 2014. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
  17. ^ "Assembly Station". Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. July 2014. Archived from the original on 8 July 2014. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  18. ^ Vaccaro, Adam (3 September 2014). "And Here's the First Big Complaint About the New Orange Line Station". Boston Globe. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
  19. ^ "MBTA State of the Service: Orange Line Heavy Rail" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. June 6, 2016. p. 26. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 26, 2016. Retrieved June 8, 2016.
  20. ^ "A Rider's Guide to Planning Ahead: Upcoming Orange & Green Line Service Suspensions" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. August 2022.
  21. ^ Chesto, Jon (October 22, 2021). "Soon, you'll be able to walk over the Mystic River, Baker says". Boston Globe.
  22. ^ Buell, Spencer (April 14, 2024). "A promised bridge over the Mystic River would be a missing link for Somerville and Everett. So where is it?". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on April 15, 2024.
  23. ^ "Urban Ring Phase 2 Fact Sheet" (PDF). January 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 July 2011. Retrieved 18 March 2012.
  24. ^ Mullan, Jeffery B. (January 22, 2010). "Re: Urban Ring Phase 2, EOEEA #12565" (PDF). Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.
  25. ^ "The Urban Ring Phase 2: Revised Draft Environmental Impact Report/Statement" (PDF). Massachusetts Executive Office of Transportation. November 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 14, 2017.
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