MBTA Closes Staircase at JFK/UMass Due to Critical Structural Issues – Boston News, Weather, Sports

BOSTON (WHDH) — The MBTA has closed a stairway on Columbia Rd. JFK/Umass Red Line station entrance due to “critical structural issue”.

The safety issues were uncovered during a recent inspection, the MBTA said. A closer look revealed that there are other issues with the pedestrian zone 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 staircase in the same ward.

That stairway was closed for over a year, but Jones’ family is suing MBTA and the state, saying it wasn’t properly cordoned off.

The MBTA said these newly discovered structural problems could take more than five weeks to repair. Commuters can use Old Colony Ave instead. and use busway entrances. The exit only Ashmont platform was also opened as an entrance.

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