The MBTA's Green Line C Branch returned to service Aug. 17, after a nine-day shutdown for signal upgrades and station accessibility work. Riders found construction effects still lingering along Beacon Street.

The closure ran from Aug. 8 through Aug. 16, suspending service between Government Center and Cleveland Circle. The MBTA used the time for two projects: upgrading the over-100-year-old signal system in the central tunnel and continuing the C Branch Accessibility Improvements Project, which is adding fully accessible platforms at seven Brookline stations.

MBTA General Manager Phil Eng told WBUR (https://www.wbur.org/news/2026/08/05/mbta-green-line-closure-august-phil-eng) on Aug. 5 that the signal system had not been updated for decades. "In the future, we will have less and less of these diversions," Eng said.

A Brookline.News commute experiment (https://brookline.news/car-bike-or-green-line-putting-the-beacon-street-gauntlet-to-the-test) conducted the morning the C Branch reopened found Beacon Street reduced to one lane at several points, with dozens of workers in yellow vests continuing station construction along the median tracks. Three staffers left Cleveland Circle at around 9:30 a.m., each taking a different mode to Park Drive. Intern Nathan Metcalf on a hybrid bike finished in 11 minutes flat. Editor Sam Mintz driving a car arrived in 14 minutes and 33 seconds. Reporter Zane Razzaq on the Green Line came in last at 33 minutes and 17 seconds.

The test was not scientific. Metcalf got a quicker start while Mintz walked to his parked car and Razzaq headed for the T stop. Razzaq then waited about 10 minutes at Cleveland Circle for a train to arrive. Her train also paused for about five minutes near Coolidge Corner. The cause was unclear; Razzaq noted the driver may have mentioned a schedule adjustment. Mintz wrote that "what slowed me was not the traffic but an unfruitful search for parking in Brookline."

The experiment lands as the town weighs its transportation future. Brookline's draft Comprehensive Plan, discussed at a steering committee meeting Aug. 17, calls for a transportation mode shift so residents can meet more daily needs by walking, cycling or transit. One listed priority: closing bicycle-network gaps that connect to planned corridors such as the Beacon Street Bridle Path.

A town newsletter (https://www.brooklinema.gov/DocumentCenter/View/63132) noted that the design-build team opened new platforms at the Englewood and Tappan stops in July 2026. Remaining C Branch work includes guardrail fencing, lighting, signage, shelters and tree planting.