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Somerville’s Community Path Extension Is Open

A view down a straight pathway with a yellow line painted down its center. The path is lined with black fencing and railroad infrastructure is visible to the right. In the distance is a bridge over the tracks and an MBTA station sign, and a skyline of buildings and trees
Photo courtesy of the MBTA|

Somerville’s new Community Path, looking down from the viaduct over the commuter rail tracks into East Somerville.

The long-awaited Somerville Community Path Extension will finally open to bike and pedestrian traffic on Saturday, June 10.

The project is the final component of the Green Line Extension project to open to the public. The MBTA announced the opening date in a surprise Friday afternoon press release, after months of delays.

In 2015 and 2016, when estimated costs were spiraling out of control, the MBTA proposed to save money by eliminating the pathway from the project's scope.

But hundreds of local advocates and Somerville elected officials lobbied to keep it in the scope of the project.

The GLX project began construction at the end of 2017. Its two light rail extensions opened in March and December 2022.

The new path runs alongside the new Green Line tracks for a little over two miles. It connects downtown Boston and the Charles riverfront through several Somerville neighborhoods to the Alewife area in Cambridge, where several other popular multi-use trails converge.

A map of Mass. Central Rail Trail projects in the greater Boston region as of spring 2023. Solid black lines indicate existing off-street paths in the Mass. Central Rail Trail network; dotted red lines indicate projects currently under construction: (1), the Waltham Wayside Trail project, and (2), the Somerville Community Path, being built as part of the Green Line Extension project. The dashed gray line marked (3) in Belmont is the first phase of the Belmont Community Path, which could go under construction in 2026.

The path is also a segment in the much longer Mass. Central Rail Trail, a partially-complete 100-mile pathway between Boston and Northampton.

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