New T station dresses up MGH area

For years it was an eyesore at the edge of one of Boston's most prestigious and historic neighborhoods, an intersection with Jersey barriers and traffic jams in the shadow of an outdated mass transit station.

But now after a long wait, neighbors and hospital employees are marveling at the changes to the Charles-MGH stop on the MBTA Red Line, which has been significantly spruced up with an infusion of public dollars.

"It's just much more attractive," said Rosemary Tambouret, a 58-year-old pathologist at Mass. General, admiring the newly constructed station's glass exterior. "The other one looked like it was going to fall apart."

The $48.6 million project took months longer than expected, forcing the more than 8,000 commuters who use it on a typical weekday to rely on crossing guards to help them traverse busy intersections.

While it is still flooded with traffic, the gateway area to Beacon Hill seems safer to Laura Regan, a 25-year-old nanny from Cambridge. Regan previously avoided the Charles-MGH stop altogether. She used to board the T at Central Square, and get off at Park Street to walk to Mass. General, to avoid pushing a stroller through what she considered a danger zone.

"I didn't come here," she said. "It would be a 40-minute commute, just to get two train stops."

The old Charles Street-MGH stop was constructed in the early 1930s and was barely changed for 70 years, until the MBTA began modernizing stations several years ago, said T General Manager Daniel A. Grabauskas. The station, which is right outside Massachusetts General Hospital, lacked entrances and exits to accommodate people with disabilities, forcing the hospital to encourage some patients and employees to find some other way to travel.

"It had no access," said Grabauskas. "It had a long steep staircase that people had to traverse. There were no elevators, no escalators, nothing."

To Stephen S. Young of the Beacon Hill Civic Association, having an inaccessible station in front of Mass. General did not make any sense. The old station, he said, "lived up to its age."

Residents, commuters, and city officials say the entire area needed an upgrade. New construction projects, such as the Yawkey Center for Outpatient Care at Mass. General, and The Liberty Hotel, formerly the Charles Street Jail, are making the neighborhood more of a destination for commuters and tourists, said Councilor Michael Ross.

Massachusetts General Hospital invested more than $2.5 million into the new station, which is used by roughly 5,000 employees daily.

Ross said the new station is a success. The lengthening of a traffic island has made it easier for pedestrians to avoid heavy traffic aroundthe station. However, some traffic lights may be out of synch, Ross said. He said he has requested additional work at a pedestrian crossing where cars speed onto the westbound lanes of Storrow Drive.

Some people have griped about delays. Begun in 2003, the project was not completed until February of this year, months past the scheduled 2006 completion date. Some Commuters said they wished the T had built a bridge between the station and Mass. General.

But for the most part, users of the station are pleased that construction is done.

"It definitely looks a lot better," said Jarrod Boland, a 29-year-old graduate student at MIT who lives on Beacon Hill. "Hopefully, they'll start to clean up all of Cambridge Street."

April Simpson can be reached at asimpson@globe.com.