The MBTA Wollaston Station Improvement project involves a full station modernization with major accessibility improvements, state-of-the-art safety features, and enhancements to the adjacent site/parking lot. The renovation project, part of the $911 million investment committed to improve the South Side Red Line, is the first major upgrade since the Wollaston Station opened in 1971. Currently, the station is the only non-ADA accessible station on the Red Line. The goal of the project is to fully modernize the facility with accessibility and code upgrades to bring the building into compliance and make the Red Line 100 percent accessible.

Features to the station include three new elevators, two new escalators, two additional stairways, new bathrooms, energy efficient lighting, and additional customer paths to/from the station. New electrical, fire protection, security, flooding mitigation, and site utility upgrades will also occur to support the accessibility improvements.

Code Red Consultants was engaged early in the design process to evaluate the compliance of the existing station in accordance with Massachusetts State Building Code, NFPA 130, and Architectural Access Board Regulations. The means of egress from the station was evaluated in accordance with NFPA 130 and was found to provide an insufficient number of exits and egress width from the platform. The accessibility of the station was also largely non-compliant.

One of the most significant challenges was addressing this single exit from the platform, which is centrally located between two tracks with substantial site constraints as it is elevated above grade. Code Red Consultants collaborated with the architect Kleinfelder to provide an egress path that goes up and over the tracks as a second compliant egress. Our firm’s evaluation helped dictate and shape the additional stairs and egress paths, as well as accessible routes to the platform, required to bring the facility into compliance.