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Alewife garage could reopen this week following crash, MBTA chief says

“This could have been an absolutely horrific event,” said interim MBTA General Manager Jeff Gonneville.

A car on the top floor of the Alewife Station parking garage Saturday plowed into a concrete barrier, which fell onto the glass-paneled atrium of the lobby, smashing close to a dozen windows. Debris lined the floor of the lobby. John Tlumacki / The Boston Globe

By Abby Patkin

February 6, 2023

Repairs to the MBTA’s Alewife Station, which was heavily damaged in a car crash over the weekend, could cost upwards of $1 million, a top transit official said Monday.

Alewife has remained closed following the Saturday afternoon crash on the top floor of the parking garage, which rained debris on the station below and left a car dangling over a ledge.

The driver, identified only as a “middle-aged man,” was unconscious when first responders arrived and was taken to a hospital, a Cambridge Fire Department spokesperson told The Boston Globe. A 14-year-old girl cut her hand in the lobby and sustained a nonlife-threatening injury, the spokesperson said.

Alewife crash

Speaking to reporters Monday, interim MBTA General Manager Jeff Gonneville thanked emergency crews and contractors who responded to the crash, “which, frankly, could have been quite a horrific event.”

Shuttle buses have replaced Red Line service to and from Alewife while the station is closed, and Gonneville said the MBTA is planning to keep this plan in place for at least the remainder of the week.

He said the MBTA is optimistic that it will be able to restore access to the parking garage midweek, though access to the roof and mezzanine will be restricted. In the meantime, he encouraged drivers to use the T’s trip planner to find alternative parking arrangements.

“As of right now, our teams are working closely and carefully to ensure there are safe and accessible paths of travel for all of our customers using the parking garage,” Gonneville said.

The transit agency is also working on a plan to reopen the station using the entrance next to Russell Field, he said.

However, he noted that there’s more work to be done before the MBTA can reopen the Alewife mezzanine, which sustained damage when a 10,000-pound concrete barrier fell from the side of the garage onto the roof trusses below.

John Tlumacki/Globe Staff — A car on the top level of the Alewife Station parking garage after knocking down a concrete barrier, which fell onto the glass-covered atrium below.

Once the site is secure, structural engineers will evaluate the roof and determine how and when temporary roof structures can be installed, Gonneville said, adding that the MBTA won’t know the scope of the repairs until that analysis is finished.

“I would daresay by the time this is done, it will be at least a million dollars,” he said of the projected cost. “At least.”

Alewife typically sees about 5,000 daily commuters and about 1,200 drivers parking in the garage each day.

“This could have been an absolutely horrific event,” Gonneville said.

The MBTA Transit Police previously described the driver’s actions as intentional, something Gonneville echoed Monday.

“We know this was intentional; this operator intended to do this,” he said, though he did not say how officials could be sure. “Obviously, the transit police is working closely with the district attorney’s office, and that investigation is continuing.”

Asked Monday morning if the driver had been arrested or charged, a transit police spokesperson told Boston.com the department had no updates.