page_title: Assembly station
section_title: History and financing
hierarchical_section_title: Assembly station / History and financing
caption_attribution_description: English: Construction of the platform and southern headhouse at Assembly Square in December 2013
context_page_description: Assembly is a rapid transit station in Somerville, Massachusetts. It serves the MBTA's Orange Line. It is an infill station, located on a section of the Orange Line that has been active since 1975. The station, which opened on September 2, 2014, was the first new station on the MBTA subway system since 1987.
  Assembly station is meant to provide convenient access to Assembly Square - a major retail and residential development located on the site of a former Ford assembly plant - and the adjacent Assembly Square Marketplace.
context_section_description: Construction was estimated to cost up to $57 million, of which $22 million (plus an optional $3.5 million extra) was from the state's Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development. The remaining cost was divided between federal funding including the FTA Section 5309 New Starts program ($16 million) and the developer of Assembly Square ($15 million), Federal Realty Investment Trust (FRIT).
  The area around the station formerly hosted a Ford automobile assembly plant, which used the adjacent Haverhill Line for rail access. Although the plant is long gone, the Assembly Square name is a reference to the site's history.
  On February 8, 2011, the MBTA board unanimously approved a memorandum of understanding between the MBTA and FRIT, which defined the funding sources for the project. The memorandum was a "critical milestone," according to a FRIT executive. Somerville approved the project on May 2, 2011, and two days later the MBTA opened bidding for construction, which was planned to start at the end of 2011.
  On October 5, 2011, the MBTA announced the award of a $29,229,184 construction contract to S&R Construction Co., Inc., with construction beginning later that fall. The work required 18 weekend closures of the Orange Line from Sullivan to Oak Grove. The first weekend closures began in June 2012 and continued past the station opening into late 2014. The closures were extended to five nights per week for the second half of 2012, and continued sporadically into 2013 and 2014.
  For construction, the MBTA shifted outbound trains to the normally unused express track and inbound trains to the outbound track, to give construction crews full access to the site. In January 2013, the MBTA began constructing concrete pillars to support the platform and headhouses; elevator shaft construction began in the spring. Construction of the headhouse frames began in June 2013, and the platform segments were laid in July. The headhouses were completed in June 2014, with work remaining on other parts of the station.
  Inbound trains switched back to the normal inbound track on July 1, 2014; outbound trains began using the normal outbound track on July 21. The station opened to passengers on September 2, 2014, although some final construction work lasted until November. On the first day of operations, the station platform flooded from a rainstorm. Partners Healthcare, which built its headquarters next to the south end of the station, funded the 2016 completion of the south headhouse as a full-time entrance and exit.
  The Assembly Square project is estimated to generate 45,000 new vehicle trips each day, and the station was intended to reduce the number that use private automobiles by diverting travelers to mass transit. In 2011, daily ridership was projected to reach 5,000 riders per day in 2030. Actual daily ridership was 1,864 within the first year, and 3,997 in FY 2019.
  A footbridge across the Mystic River between Assembly and the Encore Boston Harbor casino in Everett (which would require extension of one headhouse over the tracks to provide an eastern entrance) is under design with funding from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission. As of October 2019, negotiations are underway on access rights and construction funding, which might come from the casino, the gaming commission, the MBTA, or the cities of Everett or Somerville.
caption: Platform construction in December 2013
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