Arborway station

Arborway station was an MBTA light rail stop and bus transfer location in Boston, Massachusetts. It served the MBTA Green Line E branch. It was located in Arborway Yard near the Forest Hills station complex. It closed in 1985 when the outer section of the branch was temporarily—and ultimately permanently—closed.

Arborway
A train arrives at Arborway in 1967
General information
Coordinates42.3020°N 71.1114°W / 42.3020; -71.1114
Platforms2
Tracks1
History
ClosedDecember 28, 1985[1]
Former services
Preceding station MBTA Following station
Terminus Green Line Saint Mark Street
toward Park Street

History
1987-built trolley loop at Forest Hills, never used by trolleys, was instead used for the route 39 bus service

On December 12, 1895, the West End Street Railway opened its Forest Hills Yard with a 12-track carhouse on the east side of Washington Street, serving newly electrified streetcar lines. The Boston Elevated Railway (BERy), successor to the West End, opened a second carhouse on the site two years later.[2]: 34  In 1913, the BERy opened a ramp from the Washington Street Elevated into a small yard inside the complex. The ramp was disused after six months, and was removed in 1922.[2]: 34 

On March 1, 1924, the BERy opened a streetcar transfer station inside the yard to relieve crowding at Forest Hills station.[3] The Jamaica Plain via South Huntington line was soon extended to Arborway, improving connections with the other lines.[4] The BERy replaced the older carhouses with a new six-track carhouse and a bus garage in 1924–25.[5][6] Buses gradually replaced streetcars; all of the Arborway-terminating lines except the South Huntington line (Arborway Line, later Green Line E branch) were converted to bus by 1956. In 1962, the MTA opened its headquarters building at 500 Arborway.[2]: 35 

Arborway closed on December 28, 1985 when the line was "temporarily" suspended and ultimately closed.[1] When the new Forest Hills station was opened in 1987, a loop for the E branch was included as part of the station complex, so that Arborway would only be used for layovers and maintenance. No streetcar ever used the station, which was instead later used for route 39 buses from 2000 to 2017.[1] The loop and the waiting area were removed in 2017 as part of the Casey Overpass replacement.[7] The Arborway carhouse remained until 2001 when it was demolished and replaced by a smaller facility for CNG-powered buses.[2]: 35 

The MBTA plans to construct a two-level garage on the eastern portion of the site where the largely-disused 500 Arborway building is located. It will expand the Arborway-based fleet from 118 CNG buses to 200 battery-electric buses. This will include 60-foot (18 m) buses to move routes 28 and 39 from Southampton Garage and convert route 32 to 60-foot buses. As of June 2023, design is 15% complete; construction is expected to last from 2025 to late 2028 at a total cost of $495 million. The western portion of the site will be reserved for mixed-use development.[8]

References
  1. Belcher, Jonathan. "Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district" (PDF). Boston Street Railway Association.
  2. Heath, Richard (May 16, 2013). "A History of Forest Hills" (PDF). Jamaica Plain Historical Society.
  3. Annual Report of the Public Trustees of the Boston Elevated Railway for the Year Ending December 31, 1924. Boston Elevated Railway. 1925. p. 9 – via Internet Archive.
  4. "West Roxbury District". Boston Globe. March 26, 1924. p. 7 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  5. "West Roxbury District". Boston Globe. December 16, 1924. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  6. Annual Report of the Public Trustees of the Boston Elevated Railway for the Year Ending December 31, 1925. Boston Elevated Railway. 1926. p. 10 – via Internet Archive.
  7. HNTB (March 12, 2012). "Casey Overpass Planning and Concept Design Study" (PDF). Massachusetts Department of Transportation. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 28, 2013. Retrieved December 27, 2013.
  8. "New Arborway Bus Maintenance Facility and MBTA Bus Electrification Project: 15% Design Public Meeting" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. June 22, 2023.

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