Copley Place Construction
Does your morning commute consists of walking by the 'SW Corridor Path' near Copley Place? Wondering what's the deal with all the construction site fences? You'll be happy to know that, some change is coming. There are two separate projects that are going on.
Project One - Fix Wall Damage
A group of engineers are in the early stages fixing a hole in the wall from a cement truck accident on March 21, 2014.
Around noon time, a cement truck rolled over on the exit 22 ramp from the Mass Turnpike inside the Prudential Tunnel. The truck crashed into the wall of the tunnel, knocking bricks out of a section of the Copley Mall.
Immediately after the crash a tarp was put over the hole and a short time later the bricks were removed. When you drove through the tunnel it looked very strange to see the light shine through the tarp.
The Massachusetts Turnpike has finally gotten around to fixing the wall. This fix will cost the cement truck insurance company, at least, $20,000.
The only good thing out of that accident was the natural lighting in the dark tunnel. Looks like the construction isn't going to shed new light into the tunnel.
Project Two - Upgrading the Copley Place Entrance
The major construction change in this area is the redesign of the Copley Place Dartmouth Street entrance to be more handicap accessible. Check out the artist rendering with how it looks today to what it will look like:
This entrance redesign is estimated to cost Copley Place $9.2 million dollars. The existing mall entrance will be demolished. So MBTA commuters that use this entrance will have to find alternative ways to get into the mall.
This is a popular route that many Back Bay commuters use to get to work. Those that go this way will tell all about the constant escalator breakdown. When this happens, escalator is blocked and there's a long line of people grumbling there way up 45 steps up to Copley Place.
This past Wednesday, the MBTA send out this text alert to commuters:
The underpath is a quick way for commuters to get from Copley Place to the Orange Line. This is very convenient way to get to the Back Bay station when it's raining or snowing outside.
Check back here for an additional post on the big changes going on at Copley Place.