Expected to last around eight years once it gets underway, the MBTA’s planned replacement of a key 93-year-old railroad drawbridge over the Charles River will have minimal effects on commuters, state officials promised Thursday.
MBTA General Manager Phil Eng, MassDOT Secretary Monica Tibbits-Nutt, and Gov. Maura Healey were among those gathered below the departures board in Boston’s North Station, the transit hub for rail service north of the capital, to celebrate the federal government’s $472 million contribution, first announced in September.
Draw One dates from 1931, the middle of the Great Depression. The span is responsible for connecting more than 11 million passengers per year from the Hub to points north over the MBTA Commuter Rail’s northside lines and the Amtrak Downeaster, which runs up the coast of southern Maine…