street. With its platforms some below street level, Aquarium was the deepest station on the MBTA until Porter station opened in 1984. The aging escalators were responsible for several injuries, including in 1995 when a three-year-old's leg was badly cut. Reconstruction In 1988, the MBTA began a major renovation project to lengthen Blue Line station platforms for use of six-car trains. On February 14, 1990, the MBTA board voted to move the renovation of Aquarium station—including a new entrance on State Street—into final design. The contract for final design was not awarded until June 20, 1992, due to changes associated with the Big Dig project. The revised design called for a reinforced box structure, in which the new Central Artery tunnel would sit, on top of the station arch. In October 1995, the state opened bidding on an estimated $268 million project, which included the station renovations plus the Central Artery tunnel section from State Street to High Street. In 1996, the MBTA began construction of the renovation and platform lengthening project at Aquarium. The work took place during the Big Dig, which moved the Central Artery to the new tunnel and built the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway on the surface. The station was fully closed from October 14, 2000 to October 29, 2001; State was temporarily named "State/Aquarium" during the closure, and a shuttle bus (route 650) was run between the two stations. Two new entrances were added on State Street west of Atlantic Avenue. A new headhouse with an elevator on the south side of State Street opened on October 29, 2001, and was temporarily the only entrance to the station; an entrance on the north side of the street in the Marketplace Center building opened soon after. The renovated Long Wharf entrance, with two headhouses on the east side of the Kennedy Greenway, did not reopen until September 22, 2003. The entire reconstruction cost $110 million. The reconstructed station was designed by Harry Ellenzweig, who had previously designed Alewife station for the MBTA decades earlier. The original station was extended westward, with wider platforms in the new section. The western extension has a "triple vaulted aluminum ceiling", with the middle vault matching the curve of the original arch. The fare mezzanines on each end of the station have red slate floors, and aluminum panels cover the walls and ceilings. The headhouses were intended to mimic nearby buildings: