MBTA board OK

According to the Boston Globe, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Board approved a $27 million construction contract Oct. 6, to rebuild one of the last outdated stations on the Blue Line, part of a two-decade, $700 million campaign. The total budget for that East Boston project, including design, engineering, inspection and other costs, is $51 million. At the same time, the MBTA board also approved a $29 million contract to build a new Orange Line station at Assembly Square, between the existing Wellington and Sullivan Square stops, the first new station added to the subway map in a quarter-century. Both stations are scheduled to be finished in 2014, creating about 600 construction jobs. Bids for each came in more than $1 million cheaper than expected. Barletta Heavy Division Inc. was the winning bidder among four for Orient Heights and S&R Construction Enterprises prevailed among nine bidders for Assembly Square. The Federal Transit Authority is slated to reimburse the MBTA for 80 percent of the cost of the Orient Heights project. With Assembly Square, all of the funding will be covered by sources other than the MBTA; $15 million from the private developer, Federal Realty Investment Trust; $16 million from three federal transportation sources and $22 million from the state Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development, plus an extra $3.5 million if needed. In other MBTA news, according to boston.com, cell phone service is expected to be available in underground areas of the MBTA's Blue Line and nearly all of the Green Line by the end of the year and will extend to all underground areas of the subway system by the end of 2012. The MBTA says the work includes installation of 98 remote amplifiers, 422 antennas and 71,455 feet of radiating cable.