Lechmere (MBTA station)

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Lechmere Station

Idle E line trolleys at Lechmere, March 2006
Station statistics
Address	Cambridge Street at O'Brien Highway, Cambridge
Lines	MBTA Subway Green Line ("E" branch)
Other information
Opened	July 10, 1922
Accessible
Owned by	Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority

Post-1922 configuration of streetcar tracks

Busway at Lechmere, March 2006.

Lechmere is the north (railroad east) terminus of the MBTA Green Line. It is located in Lechmere Square in East Cambridge, Massachusetts, near the intersection of Cambridge Street and Monsignor O'Brien Highway (Route 28). The tracks make a loop at Lechmere, with a small yard. The station will be replaced by a new facility in 2010 located on the east side of the O'Brien Highway. The new station might also serve as the southern anchor for the proposed extension of the Somerville Community Path.

Lechmere station is near the former site of a well known department store by the same name. The store has been replaced by a large shopping mall, the CambridgeSide Galleria. The MBTA is working on a proposal to extend the Green Line northwest through Somerville, Massachusetts and Medford, Massachusetts next to the Lowell Line of the Commuter Rail.

1 History
2 Future plans
3 Timeline
4 Bus connections
5 Accessibility
6 References

[edit] History

The concrete Lechmere Viaduct leading up to the station opened on June 1, 1912. At the Lechmere end, there was no station, but track connections to existing streetcar lines on Cambridge Street and Bridge Street (now O'Brien Highway), which had continued downtown via the Charles River Dam Bridge. Due to schedule problems caused by delays on the surface propagating into the subway, a new prepayment station opened on July 10, 1922, and the existing loop was built to turn subway cars, while surface cars also looped on a separate track. As most if not all existing subway service from the south and west looped at Park Street, a new service was inaugurated between Lechmere and the Pleasant Street Portal. Beginning January 2, 1923, this was changed to loop at Kenmore (a surface station at the time), and some trips were extended along the Beacon Street Line to loop at Washington Square. On February 7, 1931, Commonwealth Avenue and Beacon Street service was extended from Park Street to Lechmere, and this separate service was removed.

On February 11, 1983, a Lechmere-Government Center shuttle was brought back during rush hours and middays, due to the "E" Branch, which had been the only service to Lechmere at those times, being closed by a snowstorm. This shuttle stayed even once the "E" Branch reopened, last running over 14 years later, on June 21, 1997. From December 28, 1985 to July 25, 1986, additional shuttle service ran between Lechmere and Kenmore.

Lechmere was planned for closure June 18, 2004, but fire alarm systems at North Station had to be tested more. The "D" Branch was cut back to Government Center at that time, but "E" trains continued operating to Lechmere, and additional shuttle service was added to Government Center. Lechmere closed in the evening of June 25 and the Green Line Bus Shuttle to Government Center began operating. The new alignment opened November 12, 2005, returning streetcar service to Lechmere.

The 77 (renumbered 69 ca. 1967) streetcar to Harvard became the first trackless trolley in the Boston area on April 11, 1936. The 87 and 88 streetcar routes were replaced with trackless trolleys on November 8, 1941, and with buses March 30, 1963; the 77 became a bus route on March 31. The 80 ran to Sullivan Square as a streetcar, and was replaced with a bus to Lechmere on July 9, 1932. It later too became a trackless trolley route before reverting back to bus on March 29, 1963.

[edit] Future plans

The MBTA has broken ground on construction of a new Lechmere station, located on the opposite side of McGrath/O'Brian Highway, in the NorthPoint project. Planned to open in 2010, the station relocation will enable the extension of the Green Line into Somerville and Medford.^[1]

[edit] Timeline

This timeline shows which services extended through to Lechmere at which times (before 1922, surface routes simply entered the viaduct at Lechmere).

[edit] Bus connections

69 Harvard/Holyoke Gate via Cambridge St.
80 Arlington Center via Medford Hillside
87 Arlington Center or Clarendon Hill via Somerville Ave.
88 Clarendon Hill via Highland Avenue
EZRide Cambridge - North Station

[edit] Accessibility

The station is accessible when served by the MBTA's newer low-floor light rail vehicles. It is an alternative to the non-accessible Science Park stop for visiting the Museum of Science, Boston. See MBTA accessibility.