BOSTON (WHDH) - The MBTA has closed a staircase at the Columbia Rd. entrance of the JFK/Umass Red Line station due to a “critical structural issue.”
The safety issues were unveiled during a recent inspection, the MBTA said. A closer look revealed that there are more problems with the pedestrian concourse that need to be addressed.
The repairs come more than a year after Boston University professor David Jones fell to his death from a rusted out staircase the same station.
That staircase had been closed for over a year, but Jones’ family is suing the MBTA and the state, saying it was not properly blocked off.
The MBTA said these newly discovered structural issues could take more than five weeks to repair. Commuters can use the Old Colony Ave. and busway entrances instead. The exit only Ashmont platform has also been opened as an entrance.
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