Back of the Hill station explained

Back of the Hill
Style:MBTA
Style2:Green
Address:South Huntington Avenue at Back of the Hill
Borough:Boston, Massachusetts
Platform:None (passengers wait on sidewalk)
Tracks:2
Connections: MBTA bus:
Accessible:No
Passengers:35 (weekday average)
Pass Year:2011
Mapframe:yes
Mapframe-Marker:rail-light
Mapframe-Zoom:14

Back of the Hill station is a surface stop on the light rail MBTA Green Line E branch, located in the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is named after, and primarily serves, the adjacent Back of the Hill apartment complex, a Section 8 development for elderly and disabled residents. Back of the Hill is located on the street running section of the E branch on South Huntington Avenue. The station has no platforms; passengers wait in bus shelters (shared with route 39 buses) on the sidewalks and cross a traffic lane to reach Green Line trains.[1]

History

The Boston Elevated Railway opened streetcar tracks on the newly-laid-out South Huntington Avenue between Centre Street and Huntington Avenue on May 11, 1903. The company began Jamaica Plain–Park Street service via South, Centre, South Huntington, and Huntington as a branch of existing Boston–Brookline service on Huntington Avenue.[2] [3] All Huntington Avenue service (except for and short turns) operated on South Huntington after September 10, 1938.[4] The line became part of the Metropolitan Transit Authority in 1947, and part of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) in 1967; it was designated as the E Branch of the MBTA Green Line in 1967.

By the 1970s, E Branch trains stopped at and, with no stop between them.[5] The Back of the Hill apartment complex, located just north of Heath Street, was built in 1980 and opened in 1981.[6] [7] [8] The E Branch was closed for track work from June 21, 1980, to June 26, 1982; trains began stopping at Back of the Hill then or after.

Back of the Hill is the least-used stop on the MBTA subway system, averaging only 35 riders per day by a 2011 count. It was one of only four stops to average fewer than 100 riders per day.[9] In 2021, the MBTA indicated plans to modify the Heath Street–Brigham Circle section of the E branch with accessible platforms to replace the existing non-accessible stopping locations.[10] The new platforms are planned to be long enough to accommodate two 110feet Type 10 vehicles. Design work began in July 2023 and is expected to reach 15% completion in July 2024.[11] [12]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Back of the Hill Station Neighborhood Map . July 2012 . Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
  2. News: New Route Open . Boston Globe . May 11, 1903 . 11 . Newspapers.com.
  3. Book: Tremont Street Subway: A Century of Public Service . Clarke . Bradley H. . Cummings . O.R. . 1997 . Boston Street Railway Association . 0938315048 .
  4. Boston Street Railway Association . Rollsign . Fifty Years Ago... The Last Days of Cypress Street Carhouse . March–April 1984 . Richard . Barber . 3–7 . 21 . 3/4.
  5. Book: https://archive.org/details/1972-green-line-surface-stops . Plan for Acquisition and Use of Railroad Rights-of-Way . Green Line Station Mileage from Lechmere . 1972 . Thomas K. Dyer Inc. . Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
  6. From Urban Renewal to Affordable Housing Production System: Boston Mayors and the Evolution of Community Development Corporations in Boston . 39 . Community Innovators Lab, MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning . April 2016 . Karl . Seidman . Tunney . Lee . Elise . Selinger.
  7. Back of the Hill Apartments to Remain Affordable for Low-Income Seniors and Disabled Residents . Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency . November 20, 2006.
  8. News: Mission Hill battle is finally won . Boston Globe . February 15, 1981 . 35 . Newspapers.com.
  9. The others, as of 2014, are (44 riders/day), (58 riders/day), and (91 riders/day), all on the Ashmont–Mattapan High Speed Line.
  10. Web site: Green Line Transformation (GLT) Update . June 21, 2021 . Angel . Peña . Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority . 7.
  11. Web site: System-Wide Accessibility Initiatives—November 2023 . November 27, 2023 . Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Department of System-Wide Accessibility . 5.
  12. Web site: Accessibility Initiatives—June 2024 . June 25, 2024 . Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority . 5.