Ball Square station

Ball Square is a planned station on the MBTA Green Line D branch in the Ball Square neighborhood of Somerville, Massachusetts.[2][3] Ball Square will consist of one island platform, which will serve the D branch's two tracks.

Ball Square
Ball Square station site in August 2018
LocationBroadway at Boston Avenue
Somerville, Massachusetts
Coordinates42°23′59.94″N 71°6′39.97″W
Line(s)Medford Branch
Platforms1 island platform (Green Line)
Tracks2 (Green Line)
2 (Lowell Line)
Construction
Platform levels2
Disabled accessYes
History
Opened2021 (planned)[1]
Services
Preceding station MBTA Following station
Magoun Square
toward Riverside
 Green Line
Starting 2021
 Medford/​Tufts
Terminus

Public art, consisting of colored geometric glass forms by Boston artist Christine Vaillancourt, will be located on the elevator tower.[4]

History

Railroad station
North Somerville station on a 1913 postcard

The Boston and Lowell Railroad opened through Somerville and Medford in 1835, although local passenger stops were not added until several years later. A station was built at Cambridge Road (Broadway) near Ball Square; by 1875, the station was named Willow Bridge and located on the west side of the tracks just north of Broadway.[5][6] By the late 1890s, the station was named North Somerville.[7]

Horsecars, and later streetcars consolidated under the Boston Elevated Railway, cut sharply into local railroad traffic. All stops inbound from North Somerville were closed in 1927 when the Fitchburg Cutoff became freight-only, or shortly thereafter. On April 18, 1958, the Public Utilities Commission approved a vast set of cuts to Boston and Maine Railroad commuter service, including the closure of North Somerville, Tufts College, and Medford Hillside stations.[8] The three stations were closed on May 18, 1958, amid the first of a series of cuts.[9][10]

Green Line station

Construction of the platform foundation was underway by August 2020.[11]

References
  1. Dungca, Nicole (December 7, 2016). "New Green Line stations are delayed until 2021". Boston Globe. Retrieved 7 December 2016.
  2. "MBTA Light Rail Transit System OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE PLAN" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. 6 January 2011. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  3. "Travel Forecasts: Systemwide Stats and SUMMIT Results" (PDF). Green Line Extension Project: FY 2012 New Starts Submittal. Massachusetts Department of Transportation. January 2012. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  4. Gordon, Jane Keller (June 1, 2020). "New Somerville MBTA station will feature Boston painter's artwork in glass". Fifty Plus Advocate.
  5. Karr, Ronald Dale (1995). The Rail Lines of Southern New England. Branch Line Press. pp. 229–231. ISBN 0942147022.
  6. "Part of Medford". County Atlas of Middlesex, Massachusetts. F.W. Beers & Co. 1875 – via Ward Maps.
  7. "Part of Medford". Atlas of Middlesex County, Massachusetts. Geo. H. Walker & Co. 1889 – via Ward Maps.
  8. "Drastic Service Cuts Approved on Five B.& M. Divisions". Daily Boston Globe. April 19, 1958. p. 11 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. Humphrey, Thomas J.; Clark, Norton D. (1985). Boston's Commuter Rail: The First 150 Years. Boston Street Railway Association. p. 57. ISBN 9780685412947.
  10. "B.&M. Closes Saugus Branch, 3 Other Lines". Daily Boston Globe. May 17, 1958. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. "GLX Community Working Group Monthly Meeting: August 4, 2020". Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. August 4, 2020. p. 10.


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