The east part of the
Fitchburg Cutoff opened in 1870, connecting the
Lexington and Arlington Railroad (Lexington Branch) to the
Boston and Lowell Railroad. Only used for
Boston and Maine Railroad freight trains after 1926, the line was abandoned as far east as Cedar Street in 1979 to allow construction of the
Red Line Northwest Extension. The Alewife Linear Park opened from to in 1985. The Somerville Community Path opened from Davis Square to Cedar Street in 1994, with the Cambridge/Somerville border–Davis Square segment of the Alewife Linear Park becoming part of the Community Path. In 2013, construction began on a extension to Lowell Street. The $2.2 million extension opened in mid-2015, with an official dedication ceremony on August 19. In April 2014, state officials announced that a , $39 million extension of the Community Path to
East Cambridge would be built as part of the
Green Line Extension (GLX) project. and commuter rail tracks A consortium called GLX Constructors was selected as the winner for re-bid project in November 2017. Their proposal reduced costs enough to add the full Community Path extension back into the plan. However, the plans call for a -wide path, narrower than existing portions and the 12-foot width recommended in federal guidelines. Cycling advocates have raised concerns about safety of the narrowed path given the expected levels of bicycle traffic. The GLX and path extension were expected to be completed in late 2021; with was delayed to mid-2022, then November 2022. The -long bridge over the
Fitchburg Line and Green Line reaches tall, with grades of 4.8% on the approaches. The Medford Branch opened in December 2022, but the path remained closed. Somerville signed a lease agreement with the MBTA in February 2023. The extension opened on June 10, 2023. A separate project constructing Reavis Field for
Somerville High School moved a small section of the path onto a protected on-street detour until October 18, 2023. The path extension is an example of
rails with trails. Two proposed projects would connect to the extension: the
Mystic to Charles Connector north to the Mystic Greenways network, and the
Grand Junction Multi-use Path south to the
Charles River Bike Path. ==Community Art and Events==