Owned by MBTA Disabled access Yes | Platform levels 2 Level 2 | |
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Location Union Square
Somerville, Massachusetts Platforms 1 island platform (Green Line) Bicycle facilities "Pedal and Park" bicycle cage Owner Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Tracks 2 (Green Line, Fitchburg Line) Similar Magoun Square, College Avenue, Gilman Square, Ball Square, Lechmere | ||
Union Square is a planned rapid transit station on the MBTA Green Line "E" Branch in the Union Square district of southeastern Somerville, Massachusetts. Union Square will have one island platform which will serve the "E" Branch's two tracks.
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In September 2013, the state secured funding to move forward on the Green Line Extension to build three new stations by 2017, signing a 51-month $393 million contract. Construction began in 2014 for Union Square, as well as Washington Street and the relocated Lechmere. The station is expected to open in December 2017.
Green Line Extension
In August 2012, the City of Somerville, MassDOT, and the MBTA reached a memorandum of agreement about the station. Through the Somerville Redevelopment Authority, the City will acquire $8 million worth of land for the station and grant the MBTA a permanent easement, while retaining the rights for transit-oriented development overhead. In return, the MBTA and MassDOT will pay for cleanup costs at the site, begin construction by the spring of 2014, and open the station no later than "late 2016-early 2017".
In October 2012, the Somerville Board of Aldermen approved the Union Square Redevelopment Plan and authorized an $8 million bond, including $6 million to purchase the land and $2 million for cleanup and station planning. In May 2013, the Board of Aldermen announced that the North Prospect block - a mostly industrial area bordered by the railroad tracks, Prospect Street, Somerville Avenue, and the rear of residential properties on Allen Street - had been acquired by the city via eminent domain for $4.5 million. The properties were to be vacated by August. The city also received a $1 million EPA grant to clean up one of the properties. Site cleanup began in September 2014.
As of November 2014, the station is expected to open in December 2017.
Commuter rail
Union Square was formerly a commuter rail stop on the Fitchburg Railroad (now the Fitchburg Line). Service to the station ended in 1938, likely in concert with the end of passenger service on the Watertown Branch. A set of steps which led to the station is still extant next to Webster Avenue.
Restoring commuter rail service to Union Square has been considered; the 2004 state Program for Mass Transportation estimated such a station would attract 390 daily riders. A Union Square commuter station was listed as a possibility in 2012 as an interim air quality mitigation measure in response to delays in building the Green Line Extension. However, such a station would not be popular with riders from the rest of the Fitchburg Line, which is already slow due to closely spaced stations. The station could also not have been completed by the 2015 deadline, and was not supported by MassDOT.