Feds fully funding North Station drawbridge replacement

Massachusetts will get nearly half a billion dollars in federal money to help replace a drawbridge connecting North Station to railways north of Boston, Gov. Maura Healey's office announced Monday.

The U.S. Department of Transportation awarded the MBTA $472 million in so-called MEGA grant funding for the North Station Draw One bridge replacement project. A T official said that money will fully cover all bridge replacement costs, adding that the bridge is one part of a broader, roughly $1.2 billion project to renovate North Station.

Healey's office called it the largest federal grant ever received by the T.

The bridge connects Boston and Cambridge and carries Amtrak and MBTA commuter rail trains northward. More than 11 million passengers travel by train over the bridge each year along routes including the Haverhill, Lowell, Newburyport/Rockport and Fitchburg Lines.

MBTA officials are planning to replace the "Depression-era drawbridge," as Healey's office described it, with a modern version, improve tracks and signals, connect two more tracks to the network and extend the bridge platform. The project also calls for work to replace a nearby, worn-down control tower that is currently out of service.

"We know that improving our transportation infrastructure is critical for improving quality of life and making sure Massachusetts remains the best place to live, work, raise a family and build a future," Healey said in a statement. "That's why our administration is competing so aggressively to win federal funding that can be put toward our roads, bridges and public transportation. Congratulations to General Manager [Phil] Eng and the MBTA team for this award that will improve train service for millions of riders."

Healey and her deputies view federal dollars as key to a number of high-profile infrastructure projects, including replacement of the Bourne and Sagamore Bridges to Cape Cod, a project that's received a total of $1.2 billion from Washington, D.C. so far.

Lawmakers last week sent Healey a bill she first proposed that would use interest earned by the state's growing rainy day savings account to compete for federal grants as well as to pay down state debt.