Maverick station (also known as Maverick Square) is a rapid transit station in Boston, Massachusetts. It serves the MBTA's Blue Line and is located at Maverick Square in East Boston. 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. 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 routes .

History

thumb|left|1905 postcard of Maverick Portal

When the East Boston Tunnel originally opened on December 30, 1904, it was a streetcar 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 rapid transit 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. 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.

References

  • MBTA – Maverick
  • Google Maps Street View: Maverick Square headhouse, Lewis Mall headhouse