Maverick station (also known as Maverick Square) is a

rapid transit Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT) or heavy rail, commonly referred to as metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport that is generally built in urban areas. A grade separation, grade separated rapid transit line below ground su ...

station in

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. It serves the

MBTA The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (abbreviated MBTA and known colloquially as "the T") is the public agency responsible for operating most public transportation services in Greater Boston, Massachusetts. The MBTA transit network in ...

's Blue Line and is located at Maverick Square in

East Boston East Boston, nicknamed Eastie, is a Neighborhoods in Boston, neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, which was annexed by the city of Boston in 1836. Neighboring communities include Winthrop, Massachusetts, Winthrop, Revere, Mas ...

. It is the easternmost underground station on the Blue Line and a transfer point to various buses. A center island platform provides access to the surface in the middle of Maverick Square. In the station, a track map lined with light bulbs shows the position of the trains on the Blue Line between Bowdoin and

Orient Heights Orient Heights is a historic section of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, and is commonly considered part of East Boston; it is Boston's northernmost and northeasternmost neighborhood. The neighborhood sits on a hill, which measures 152 f ...

. It was one of the last stations to be converted to 6-car train service as part of the MBTA's Blue Line Renovation Project. Maverick is a terminal for

MBTA bus The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) operates List of MBTA bus routes, 152 bus routes in the Greater Boston area. The MBTA has a policy objective to provide transit service within walking distance (defined as ) for all residents ...

routes .

History

When the

East Boston Tunnel The Blue Line is a rapid transit line in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, one of four rapid transit lines operated by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA). It runs from Bowdoin station in downtown Boston under Boston Har ...

originally opened on December 30, 1904, it was a

streetcar A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some include s ...

tunnel with a portal at Maverick, known as Maverick portal or the Maverick incline. There was no station at Maverick; streetcars simply left the portal and continued north on Meridian Street or southeast on Maverick Street. On April 18–21, 1924, the tunnel was converted to

and Maverick station opened, with the streetcar loop between the rapid transit platforms. The last streetcar lines to use the underground loop were the , , , , and ; these last ran January 4, 1952, the day before the Revere Extension to the rapid transit line opened. The streetcar loop and portal have since been closed, with parts of the incline now used for pedestrian access. The station has an extra-wide platform as a result of filling in the former streetcar tracks. The abandoned streetcar loop west of the station remains extant. The MBTA began design work of a renovation of the station in 1998. A $30.8 million construction contract, which also included ventilation work in the East Boston Tunnel, was awarded on May 5, 2005. Construction began with a groundbreaking ceremony on October 4, 2005. The work included extension of the platforms for six-car trains, replacement of the Maverick Square headhouse, addition of a new headhouse on Lewis Mall, and the creation of a dedicated busway in Maverick Square. Both headhouses included an elevator to make the station fully accessible. The Lewis Mall headhouse opened on September 22, 2007, allowing the old Maverick Square headhouse to be demolished that November. The renovation was completed in 2009. The final cost was $56.3 million, which included $12.4 million in change orders – of which $8.9 million was due to design errors by the MBTA. The city plans to reconfigure Maverick Square, including dedicated bus lanes through the square.

References

External links

MBTA – Maverick
*Google Maps Street View
Maverick Square headhouseLewis Mall headhouse
{{MBTA Subway Stations Blue Line (MBTA) stations East Boston Railway stations located underground in Boston Railway stations in the United States opened in 1904 Bus stations in Boston