It has only been open for a little more than a year, but the MBTA is gearing up to shut down part of its new Green Line extension for six weeks next month.
Starting July 18, service will be suspended between Union Square and Lechmere for 42 days. The closure has nothing to do with the tracks and is instead required so the Massachusetts Department of Transportation can do repair work on the Squires Bridge.
The MBTA announced the closure on Thursday, but riders said they still had not heard about it.
"It would be nice if we could hear it from someone other than you, like a community notification or something, because that's going to be really inconvenient," Jen Marino-Kibbee said.
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Rep. Mike Connolly, a Democrat serving Cambridge and Somerville, said he just found out about the closure, too. He is calling on the MBTA to be more transparent and put up signage.
"It's a problem that they wait to bury a story that they ought to be up-front and proactive about," Connolly said.
He questions why the bridgework was not done before the long-planned Green Line extension opened.
He is also concerned that the MBTA is not adding shuttle buses during the shutdown. Instead, current bus routes are supposed to be able to handle the ridership.
"If I was the member of the public, I wouldn't have trust that what I hear is true, because so often, the communication comes in bits and pieces," Connolly said.
The closure is also coming at a time when more commuters are being asked to take public transportation due to the Sumner Tunnel closure.
MBTA General Manager Phillip Eng said the agency is working with MassDOT in an effort to minimize disruptions during the construction.
"There's a tremendous amount of work that needs to be done, and it's important for us to minimize those impacts and see if we can improve upon them," Eng said.
