Alewife T station to be closed for at least a week after a garage car crash considered intentional (updated)
Repairs are underway at the closed Alewife T station Sunday after a car crash the previous day. (Photo: Marc Levy)
A driver at the top of Cambridge’s Alewife parking garage crashed intentionally this weekend, injuring himself and one person far below in the T station lobby, officials said.
MBTA spokesperson Joe Pesaturo said that at approximately 1:30 p.m. Saturday a driver “slammed [the car] into a barrier on the top deck of the Alewife station parking garage. As a result of the collision, concrete debris fell from the garage and shattered glass panels above the lobby and mezzanine area.”
Pesaturo was unable to provide details about the driver or the bystander hurt in the crash, but said the driver was taken to a local hospital and the bystander sustained minor injuries. MBTA Transit Police detectives’ preliminary findings indicate the crashed was intentional but are not providing additional details at this time, such as a motive. Pesaturo did not respond to questions regarding if the driver was in custody or will be charged.
Alewife Station is closed for at least a week for repairs and structural assessment, but Pesaturo did not respond to how long assessments will take or who will pay for repairs – the driver or taxpayers. Overnight, crews removed the 10,000-pound concrete barrier from the roof, cleared debris and examined the roof’s structural integrity.
Shuttle buses have replaced trains between Alewife and Davis Square, in Somerville.
Pesaturo said the updates will be posted for riders on social media, including the MBTA’s Twitter account, @MBTA. An update Sunday evening from spokesperson Lisa Battiston said the parking garage at Alewife would be closed “at least” through Monday and that “garage users should seek alternate parking sites.”
“Drivers with vehicles already parked in the garage may retrieve them,” Battiston said. “The MBTA will reopen the garage after it has created a safe, accessible path of travel from the garage to the busway.”
The garage at Alewife, which opened in 1985, was last in the news for structural reasons in August 2018: The 2,500-parking-space garage saw 500 spaces cordoned off after a chunk of ceiling concrete fell through the window of a car. No one was hurt.
This post was updated Feb. 5, 2023, with garage information from Lisa Battiston.
Bikes are the real danger in this city. Don’t let this fake news distract you from the danger posed by 20lb bicycles.
Brilliant comment. Obviously, cars weigh more than bikes, but getting run over by bicyclists – in Cambridge, due to bad behavior (well demonstrated in the tone of the previous comment) and no enforcement by CPD, it’s a daily risk – is no picnic. How about reasonable rules FOR EVERYONE, which are actually ENFORCED. (Or perhaps it’s preferable to have CPD intervening exclusively with extreme mental health emergencies…)
Um, no. Driver behave as badly as cyclists. But cars weigh thousands of pounds and travel fast. That is why cars cause >99% of injuries and deaths on the road, not bikes. Real statistics. Numbers don’t lie.
Um, no? Ehem… I think Bono already said that. Being inanimate, numbers do not tend to “lie,” but people certainly do like to do their best to lie with them, sometimes just by referring to the mere fact that numbers actually do exist. Ho-hum. No one wants to get hit by a car OR a bike. Apparently, many Cantabrigians remain stubbornly more worried about getting hit by bicyclists rather than by automobile drivers.
Gee, how could that be??? There could easily be data gathered on this point. We could also easily gather data on how frequently bicyclists roll through red lights and crosswalks in this city (and even compare that with cars). Ah, but then the fake “debate” would be over. The fake “logic” seems to be: Because you could – on average – get more seriously hurt were you to get hit by a car, I can cruise through any red light or crosswalk in Cambridge I feel like. I can do whatever I want because somebody else somewhere else weighs a whole lot and could hurt you if they fell on you. Oy. We all know how virtuous bicyclists are in Cambridge, but could we save a few of even their lives by having some rules for hem that are actually enforced?? If we gave the CPD another ten million could we dare ask them to do a little traffic enforcement?? Don’t hold your breath.
@Poor Bono Publico
Over 700 pedestrians were killed in MA last year. All by cars, zero by bikes.
According to the Cambridge PD accident statistics, virtually no pedestrians have been sent to the hospital after a bike collision in recent years. However, dozens of pedestrians have been hospitalized after being hit by cars.
Obviously, being hit by a car is a daily risk. Being hit by a bike is not.
Numbers don’t lie.
Let me know the next time a bicycle indefinitely shuts down a major transit station that thousands of people rely on in their daily lives.
@Poor Bono Publico
Drivers break the law as often, if not more often than cyclists. But cars are much heavier and faster. That is why cars cause virtually all (>90%) of pedestrian injuries and death. For fatalities, it is >99%.
In the US, 20 pedestrians are killed by cars *every day*. >6000 pedestrians are killed by cars every year. By bikes, 4 or fewer per year!
6000 vs 4. In other words, cars are more than 1000X more dangerous to pedestrians than bikes. 1000X!
Here is some reading for you.
Surprise! Drivers Break Way More Traffic Laws Than Bicyclists
https://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/2012/07/12/surprise-car-drivers-break-traffic-laws-bicyclists/
Cyclists Break Far Fewer Road Rules Than Motorists, Finds New Video Study
https://www.forbes.com/sites/carltonreid/2019/05/10/cyclists-break-far-fewer-road-rules-than-motorists-finds-new-video-study/
Cyclists violate traffic law no more than drivers, new data shows
https://whyy.org/articles/cyclists-violate-traffic-law-no-more-than-drivers-new-data-shows/
Nothing in this artical has anything to do with bikes. Nothing. Zero. Zilch.
@Gary
You are right. It is more about how one car can do a lot of damage.