page_title: Alewife station
section_title: Development and later changes
hierarchical_section_title: Alewife station / History / Development and later changes
caption_attribution_description: English: Aerial view of Cambridge Highlands in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Includes Alewife MBTA station and parts of Fresh Pond.
context_page_description: Alewife station is an Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority intermodal transit station in the North Cambridge neighborhood of Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is the northwest terminal of the rapid transit Red Line and a hub for several MBTA bus routes. The station is located off Alewife Brook Parkway adjacent to the eastern end of the freeway portion of Massachusetts Route 2, with a five-story parking garage for park and ride use. Located at the confluence of the Minuteman Bikeway, Alewife Linear Park, Fitchburg Cutoff Path, and Alewife Greenway, the station has three bike cages. Alewife station is named after nearby Alewife Brook Parkway and Alewife Brook, themselves named after the alewife fish.
  The Fitchburg Railroad
context_section_description: Prior to the construction of Alewife station, the surrounding area was known as the "industrial triangle"; the only nearby development was the 1971-built Rindge Towers. Major development had been proposed in the triangle by Arthur D. Little in the 1960s, and by a 1970 city planning study. The construction of Alewife station resulted in what would later be termed transit-oriented development, with commercial developments replacing struggling industrial sites. The first developments around the station were primarily office buildings and high-tech research and development facilities that that flourished in Massachusetts in the 1980s. Developers were attracted to the Alewife area by the large plots of available land, the subway connection to Cambridge and Boston, and the proximity to Route 2. An additional development surrounding the east headhouse was considered in the mid-1980s, but was rejected by the community because it would have added 2,000 parking spaces. Residential developments were built in the Alewife triangle beginning in 2003.
  The Alewife Linear Park between Alewife and Davis opened in 1985. The Minuteman Bikeway opened in 1992–93 and was extended a short distance to Alewife in 1998, connecting the northwestern suburbs of Arlington, Lexington, and Bedford to Alewife along the former Lexington Branch right-of-way. Alewife became a major junction point between trails: The Fresh Pond Path to the south opened in the 1990s, the Alewife Greenway to the north in 2012, and the Fitchburg Cutoff Path to the west in 2013. The Minuteman quickly became a popular commuter route, necessitating additional bike storage at Alewife. On September 18, 2008, the MBTA opened two 150-bike parking cages on the ground level of the garage. A third cage was added around 2013 as the MBTA built bike cages at a number of stations.
  The parking garage frequently fills to capacity. In April 2008, the MBTA said that they did not have funds to add two levels to the parking garage, which would cost $30–35 million and add about 1300 spaces. The structure was originally designed to support two more levels, but whether the condition of the supports and building codes would still allow this expansion was not clear. In August 2018, the MBTA awarded a $5.7 million contract for garage repairs, which were needed even in the absence of funding for expansion. Work began in September 2018, and the main garage entrances were temporarily closed on October 19, 2019. Phased replacement of the garage elevators and the west platform elevator began in mid-2018, with completion planned for late 2020.
caption: A 2015 aerial view of the Alewife garage (right) and nearby development
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