Community College station
| Company type | Rapid transit station |
|---|---|
| Industry | Public transportation |
| Founded | April 7, 1975 |
| Headquarters | Boston, Massachusetts , United States |
Area served | Charlestown neighborhood, Boston |
| Products | Orange Line rapid transit service |
Community College station serves as a rapid transit stop on Boston's MBTA Orange Line. It is located in the Charlestown neighborhood, positioned off Austin Street near New Rutherford Avenue (MA-99), beneath the two-level elevated structure that carries Interstate 93 toward the Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge. The station takes its name from the nearby Bunker Hill Community College and commenced operations in April 1975, succeeding the former Charlestown Elevated stations of and . Accessibility improvements were implemented around 2005.
Station layout
Situated at Charlestown’s southwestern border, Community College station lies underneath the double-decked elevated Interstate 93, just south of Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC) and to the west of New Rutherford Avenue (Route 99). The vicinity also includes East Cambridge and the NorthPoint development to the southwest, the MBTA Commuter Rail Maintenance Facility along with the Inner Belt District industrial park to the northwest, and highway ramp connections to the southeast.
The station is equipped with two island platforms serving three tracks; however, only the western platform is currently operational. Southbound trains utilize the western track, whereas northbound trains run on the center track. The eastern platform and its adjacent track are not used for passenger service. Above the tracks at the southern end of the station, a fare mezzanine provides access to the north side of the Gilmore Bridge, which carries Austin Street over both the Orange Line and North Station approach tracks. A pedestrian bridge connects this mezzanine directly to BHCC.
Earlier stations
During the 19th century, four principal northside railroads—the Fitchburg, Boston and Lowell (B&L), Boston and Maine (B&M), and Eastern—operated independently without shared track infrastructure as they approached Boston.[1] The first shared depot emerged with the opening of North Union Station in 1893.[2] The Millers River separated Charlestown from East Cambridge; at Prison Point—near present-day Community College station—the Fitchburg line crossed those of B&M and Eastern. Both Fitchburg and B&M maintained notable freight depots nearby, with B&M briefly running a Charlestown station during the 1850s.[1][3][2] Following Fitchburg’s relocation of its Boston terminal from Charlestown in 1848, a flag stop continued to operate at Prison Point Bridge.[2]Cite error: The opening <ref> tag is malformed or has a bad name
The Charlestown Elevated, part of the Boston Elevated Railway's Main Line, began service in June 1901 and included three elevated stations within Charlestown. Among these were Thompson Square station, situated roughly one-third of a mile east of today’s station along Austin Street at Main Street, and City Square station, located approximately half a mile south on Rutherford Avenue at Chelsea Street. The elevated structure faced opposition locally due to noise concerns and its obstruction of sunlight along Main Street. Although plans were proposed in 1917 to replace it with a permanent subway beneath Main Street, these were ultimately abandoned because of World War I.Cite error: The opening <ref> tag is malformed or has a bad name
Community College station
During the late 1960s, the MBTA initiated the Haymarket North Extension project, which involved constructing a tunnel starting from through a newly established underground stop at North Station, then passing beneath the Charles River to a portal located just south of the Gilmore Bridge. This extension traced the commuter rail corridor of the Haverhill Line. Community College station was introduced as a replacement for two elevated stations in Charlestown and commenced service to Sullivan Square on April 7, 1975. The Main Line had been rebranded as the Orange Line in 1967 amid the MBTA's comprehensive system-wide renaming.
Community College station was designed with an additional island platform and a third track intended for express trains, anticipating an Orange Line expansion reaching to supplant commuter rail operations. Nevertheless, opposition from residents in Melrose limited this extension to , and express service was never implemented. While stations like Sullivan Square and Wellington utilize their extra platforms for outbound passengers, Community College's second platform remains dormant.
Distinct from other stops on the Haymarket North Extension, Community College does not feature a busway. Bus routes serving East Cambridge concluded at Lechmere station, while Charlestown routes and extended service to Haymarket. Neither routes nor were extended to Community College; route 111 continued to terminate at Haymarket, and route 112 was redirected to . In December 1975, route 92 was temporarily adjusted to serve BHCC and Community College station but reverted to its original path by 1977. In 1987, the MBTA explored plans for constructing a parking garage at this location.
Initially lacking accessibility features, an elevator providing access to the main platform was incorporated during the Big Dig project, with contract bidding commencing in 2002. Structural work for the elevator shaft was also completed for the unused second platform, although no elevator equipment was installed there. Renovation efforts concluded around 2005 enhanced accessibility at the station. The entire Orange Line, including Community College station, was closed for maintenance from August 19 to September 18, 2022. Further improvements to accessibility were made in May–June 2024 by replacing the brick surface of the entrance plaza with concrete.