Blandford Street (MBTA station)

BLANDFORD STREET
Blandford Street station, facing Kenmore Square
Location	Commonwealth Avenue and Silber Way Boston, Massachusetts
Coordinates	42°20′57″N 71°06′01″W / 42.349126°N 71.100235°W / 42.349126; -71.100235Coordinates: 42°20′57″N 71°06′01″W / 42.349126°N 71.100235°W / 42.349126; -71.100235
Owned by	MBTA
Line(s)	Green Line– "B" Branch
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	2
Connections	MBTA Bus: 57, 57A
History
Opened	1896
Traffic
Passengers (2011)	1,540 (weekday average boardings)
Services
Preceding station   MBTA   Following station Boston University East toward Boston College Green Line "B" Branch Kenmore toward Park Street   Former services   Boston University East toward Watertown Green Line "A" Branch Closed 1969 Kenmore toward Park Street

Blandford Street is a surface-level tram station on the MBTA's Green Line "B" Branch located in Boston, Massachusetts. The station is located in the center median of Commonwealth Avenue at Silber Way and Blandford Mall, about 2 blocks west of Kenmore Square, near the east end of Boston University. The station consists of two low side platforms, which serve the "B" Branch's two tracks. The station is the first station outbound on the "B" Branch after it splits off from the "C" and "D" Branches at Kenmore.

Blandford Street is the seventh-busiest surface stop on the "B" Branch, averaging 1,540 boardings per weekday. Although a number of the Green Line surface stops were upgraded with slightly raised platforms around 2003 to allow level boarding on Type 8 low-floor trams, Blandford Street was not among them, and it is not handicapped-accessible.

The Commonwealth Avenue line was originally served by surface streetcars beginning in 1896 as part of what would later become the Green Line "A" Branch. On October 3, 1914, the Boylston Street Subway was opened to the Kenmore Portal just east of Kenmore Square, allowing streetcars to enter and run underground into the Tremont Street Subway. In October 1932, Kenmore station was built, and the modern Blandford Street Portal was built just east of Blandford Street.

Streetcars have stopped at Blandford Street continuously since then. However, like the rest of the Green Line surface stops, Blandford Street was considered a mere stopping point and not equivalent to a subway station. The 3-car-length asphalt platforms were built in the 1980s, around the time Blandford Street first appeared as a distinct stop on MBTA subway maps.