Lechmere (MBTA station)

LECHMERE
Station statistics
Address	Cambridge Street at O'Brien Highway East Cambridge, Massachusetts
Coordinates	42°22′15.3″N 71°04′39″W
Lines	Green Line "E" Branch
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	1 (balloon loop)
Parking	347 spaces
Other information
Opened	July 10, 1922
Rebuilt	2010
Accessible
Owned by	MBTA
Traffic
Passengers (1997)	1.409 million  0%
Services
Preceding station   MBTA   Following station Science Park toward Heath Street Green Line "E" Branch Terminus

Lechmere is the northern 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 2015 by a new facility located on the east side of the O'Brien Highway, with a direct connection to the Somerville Community Path.

The station has two platforms; the outbound terminus is on the northeast side of the loop and the inbound platform is on the southwest side. The platforms are not connected within fare control, but they are connected outside by a small foot tunnel under the tracks.

Lechmere station is near the former site of a well known Lechmere 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 The store has been replaced by a large shopping mall, the CambridgeSide Galleria.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 into Medford, Massachusetts, called the "Green Line Extension Project", next to the Lowell and Fitchburg Lines of the Commuter Rail.

Lechmere rail service was suspended from April 30 to November 2011 due to construction at Science Park station, with shuttle bus service between Lechmere and North Station. The station was reopened and regular service between Lechmere and North Station resumed on 5 November 2011.

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 Incline. 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.

Trolleys in Lechmere Yard between the two platforms

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. Lechmere closed one week later, in the evening of June 25, and the Green Line Bus Shuttle to Government Center began operating. The "D" Branch was cut back to Government Center at that time, but "E" trains continued operating to Lechmere, with additional shuttle service added to Government Center. The new alignment opened November 12, 2005, returning streetcar service to Lechmere.

Lechmere busway

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.

Future plans

The MBTA has proposed that it will break ground for the constuction of a new Lechmere station in 2012, located on the opposite side of McGrath/O'Brien Highway in a new community called NorthPoint, as part of the Green Line Extension. Planned to open by 2017, the relocated station will connect with the associated Somerville Community Path.

The moved Lechmere station is a proposed stop on the MBTA's planned Urban Ring Project. The Urban Ring will be a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Line designed to connect the current radial MBTA Lines to reduce strain on the downtown stations.

Timeline

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

Bus connections

The outbound terminus platform is connected to a busway on the Monsignor O'Brien Highway, which serves several MBTA bus routes:

• 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

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.

References

• Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district (PDF)

External links

• MBTA Green Line -- Lechmere Station
• Station from Google Maps Street View