With two weeks to go, Wu and state still deadlocked over transit plans for World Cup

Sport admin May 28, 2026 0 Comments

With two weeks to go, Wu and state still deadlocked over transit plans for World Cup

With less than two weeks before the World Cup kicks off, a clash between Mayor Michelle Wu’s administration and state transportation officials over crowd-control plans at a major transit hub remains unresolved, raising fresh concerns about Boston’s readiness to host the global event.

Despite hours of closed-door talks over the past week, city and state transportation officials remain in a standoff over when — and for how long — to close down a busy section of Summer Street in front of Boston’s South Station.

The MBTA, which owns and operates South Station, is expected to provide an update on the dispute Thursday morning at its monthly board meeting.

The T is expecting crowds of up to 20,000 fans per match to ride trains from South Station to Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, where seven games will be held. Two weeks ago, state transportation officials informed City Hall that they intend to take the unusual step of temporarily occupying part of Summer Street — between South Station and Fort Point Channel — and closing it off to vehicle traffic for 10 hours at a time on match days, according to a letter from Phil Eng, the MBTA’s general manager and the state’s interim transportation secretary.

“This is a matter of necessity given the expected increase in foot traffic near the station in order to best ensure that pedestrians, workers and others walking in that area can do so safely,” Eng wrote in his letter to the city.

But Boston officials said in a letter to the MBTA that the plan is an “inappropriate use of eminent domain to bypass the permitting process for roadways under local jurisdiction.”

A spokesperson for the T said discussions are ongoing among the MBTA, the state Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, Transit Police, and Massachusetts State Police. The T declined to make anyone available for an interview to discuss the negotiations. A spokesperson from Governor Maura Healey’s office referred the Globe to the MBTA for questions about the standoff.

The stalemate is the latest in a string of coordination breakdowns and other missteps surrounding Boston’s World Cup preparations. It began early this year with a months-long standoff between Boston Soccer 26, the host committee, and the town of Foxborough over security costs at Gillette Stadium. The dispute was eventually resolved to Foxborough’s liking, but not before drawing unwanted international attention and briefly casting doubt over whether the event would even proceed.

Meanwhile, local communities that were awarded $10 million in grants to support local watch parties and other celebrations are in a holding pattern as they await the necessary permits; the organizations cannot move forward without the public-viewing licenses from FIFA, soccer’s global governing body. As of Tuesday, fewer than half of the 17 entities that received state grants had obtained the licenses — a roadblock that could prevent thousands of people from enjoying the games at festive communal gatherings. (Governor Maura Healey said she expects the licensing delays to be resolved this week.)

“It’s crazy that an event this large would not have more organization behind it and more forethought,” said Jackey West Devine, executive director of a nonprofit, Fields Corner Main Street, that finally received a license from FIFA on Tuesday for a World Cup watch party on June 21 in Dorchester. “This is history in the making, after all.”

Two Boston city councilors said this week that they were surprised crowd control measures at South Station had not been resolved by now.

The lack of preparation is particularly jarring, they said, given that other host cities have figured out transportation issues months ago. Other cities have also shown greater willingness to block off city streets for World Cup-related events. Houston, for instance, plans to block off some 30 blocks of streets near its soccer stadium.In New York, officials are planning significant traffic disruptions to accommodate World Cup-related traffic, with multiple streets and lanes in Manhattan closed on game days.

At the MBTA board of directors meeting on April 30, Erika Mazza, the agency’s chief enterprise development officer, said the sidewalk-only queuing system used for the Brazil–France “friendly” on March 26 proved ineffective. That game was supposed to be a test run for the World Cup games. But Mazza said there was not enough space, pedestrians trying to pass through were obstructed, and access for emergency vehicles and personnel was compromised.

For that friendly match, the T sold only about 3,000 tickets to Foxborough, far fewer than the 20,000 riders expected for each World Cup game.

As of last week, more than 34,000 train tickets had been sold across the first five games of the tournament, which is about a third of the total tickets on sale.

Of those sales, more than 10,000 were for the first game on June 13 between Scotland and Haiti.

City Councilor Miniard Culpepper said Wednesday that the city and the T should be able to “strike a happy medium” between fully shutting down a busy thoroughfare for 10 hours on match days and restricting traffic during peak crowd periods. He said the agency should identify those hours when the largest numbers of fans are expected to use South Station to travel to the games, and focus traffic restrictions around those times to minimize disruption for commuters.

The city of Boston has already agreed to allow the T to close a portion of Summer Street to traffic for the first match on June 13 between Haiti and Scotland, and the third match on June 19 between Scotland and Morocco. However, the two sides remain at odds over whether — and when — traffic restrictions should be imposed for the remaining five games.

“No matter what, it’s going to be difficult,” Culpepper said of crowd control efforts at South Station. “Here’s the question: Do you cut off the street for those who depend on it and use it every day, just for the World Cup? Or do you look at the times when it’s most used for the games? Why close the street in the mornings, when there won’t be games?”

Ed Flynn, the South Boston district councilor, said he was frustrated that negotiations between the T and city officials have taken place behind closed doors, with little transparency and no clear resolution in sight. He added that he has not received any updates from city officials on the status of the talks.

“This should have been resolved five or six months ago,” Flynn said. “But it wasn’t resolved, so here we are, just days from the World Cup, and we don’t have a clear public safety and logistical plan in place for getting people to and from the games.”