An MBTA station in Cambridge, Massachusetts, will still be closed Monday, two days after a car crashed into the top floor of the parking garage, sending a concrete barrier and debris onto the station below and leaving the vehicle dangling from above the facility.
The MBTA said Alewife Station will be closed through at least the start of the week, and that Red Line service is likely to remain closed for the week following the incident on Saturday afternoon that sent two people to the hospital.
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Shuttle buses will continue to be used to replace service between Alewife and Davis Square stations, the transit agency said.
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Red Line riders can board the buses at the busway at Alewife. MBTA staff will be on hand to assist customers, and there will also be signs directing people to the bus shuttle area.
Garage users should seek alternate parking sites, the MBTA said. Drivers with vehicles already parked in the garage may retrieve them, however.
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The garage will be reopened after a safe, accessible path of travel has been created from the garage to the busway.
Overnight, crews safely removed the 10,000-pound concrete barrier from the roof, and they continued to clear other debris and examine the roof's structural integrity.
"While we're developing plans for securing the roof, we advise riders to expect shuttles to continue this week," the agency said in an update Sunday.
Work is ongoing to safely reopen Alewife and Red Line service.
The Cambridge Fire Department responded to the top level of Alewife Station's parking garage around 1:30 p.m. Saturday and said they found the car's driver unconscious behind the wheel. He was taken to a local hospital and there's been no update on his condition.
The fire chief said a child was also taken to an area hospital after she was hit by glass falling into the station.
MBTA Transit Police have said the driver's actions on the fifth level of the parking garage were "intentional." Further information has not been released but police said Sunday that they are still investigating. It wasn't immediately clear if the driver may face charges. The agency said they will make determinations on next steps upon conclusion.
Photos shared by the fire department and the MBTA on social media showed a white car hanging over the edge of the parking structure above the station's distinctive glass atrium.
The car knocked off a piece of concrete estimated around 10,000 pounds, along with the steel guard rails, which collapsed into the atrium down below, but it didn't fall all the way to the first floor. Cambridge's fire chief said the piece of the concrete barrier that fell was somehow held up by the steel atrium.
Damage was visible inside the atrium, as well. More photos shared by the agencies involved showed panes of glass broken on the floor inside. It was not immediately clear where the girl was when she was struck by glass, but acting chief Tom Cahill said things could have been worse during a busy weekday commute.
"I think we're fortunate it was a Saturday morning," Cahill said. "If this was a Monday morning, the circumstances would've been a lot different. The particular construction used to support the glass in that atrium, the size of the steel they used, is really what kept that 10,000 pounds from making it all the way into the atrium."
Alewife Station is one terminus of the MBTA's Red Line train. City and charter buses also stop at the facility.
