 Commonwealth Avenue in 2006 | |
 Interactive map of Commonwealth Avenue | |
| Length | 11.0 mi (17.7 km)[1] |
|---|---|
| West end |  Route 30 inAuburndale |
| Major junctions |  Route 16 inWest Newton US 20 inAllston |
| To | Arlington Street inBack Bay |
| North | Marlborough Street (Back Bay) |
| South | Newbury Street (Back Bay) |
Commonwealth Avenue (colloquially referred to asComm Ave) is a major street in the cities ofBoston andNewton,Massachusetts. It begins at the western edge of theBoston Public Garden, and continues west through the neighborhoods of theBack Bay,Kenmore Square,Boston University,Allston,Brighton andChestnut Hill. It continues as part ofRoute 30 throughNewton until it crosses theCharles River at the border of the town ofWeston.
Often compared toGeorges-Eugène Haussmann's Paris boulevards, Commonwealth Avenue in Back Bay is aparkway divided at center by a wide grassy mall. Thisgreenway, calledCommonwealth Avenue Mall, is punctuated with statuary and memorials, and forms the narrowest "link" in theEmerald Necklace. It connects thePublic Garden tothe Fens.
Where Commonwealth Avenue reachesKenmore Square, theMBTAGreen Line B branch rises above ground and dominates the center of the roadway through the campus ofBoston University and the neighborhoods ofAllston andBrighton. After leaving Boston and enteringChestnut Hill inNewton, the avenue passes byBoston College and the terminus of theMBTA Green Line B Branch. The trolley in the median is replaced by grass as the scenery becomes noticeably more suburban and residential, and theCommonwealth Avenue Historic District begins. As the road continues out ofChestnut Hill and intoNewton Centre, Comm Ave is still made up of two roadways separated by a grassy median lined with trees. The south side of the roadway contains the main, two-lane east-west roadway, with a one-way, westbound "carriage road" providing local access on the north side of the median. The section of Comm Ave from Chestnut Hill Ave in Brighton toRoute 16 in Newton is along theBoston Marathon route, and is known to be especially hilly, containing the three “Newton hills”. The carriage road continues intoWest Newton, and the road passes over theMassachusetts Turnpike in theAuburndale section of Newton. The avenue ends as it leaves Newton, crosses theCharles River and interchanges withRoute 128.
The linear 1.5 miles (2.4 km) stretch of Commonwealth Avenue between Kenmore Square andPackard's Corner (where Brighton Avenue maintains a straight continuum and Commonwealth Avenue splits off) contains much of Boston University's campus. BU owns much of the property along and around this part of Commonwealth Avenue.[citation needed]
The Commonwealth Avenue Mall was designed byArthur Delevan Gilman.[2]Frederick Law Olmsted designed the Newton portion of Commonwealth Avenue and included the parkway as part of the Emerald Necklace park system. The first statue on the Commonwealth Avenue Mall was erected in 1865 at Arlington Street.[3]
The Newton end of the roadway was constructed in 1895 with a line of theMiddlesex and Boston Street Railway in the median. In 1923, the stretch of Commonwealth Avenue between Warren Street and Sutherland Road became the first street paved with concrete in Boston.[4]Streetcar service was cut back to its present terminus at the Boston border in 1930 andbuses last ran on Commonwealth Avenue in 1976. Anamusement park andballroom known asNorumbega Park was built at the end of the line on the Charles River in 1897 to increase streetcar patronage.[5] The eastern half of the Newton section of the road is listed on theNational Register of Historic Places as theCommonwealth Avenue Historic District. The mall that includes the landscape features, monuments, street furniture and fences that are bounded by Kenmore Street, Arlington Street and Commonwealth Avenue was designated as aBoston Landmark by theBoston Landmarks Commission in 1978.
The addition ofprotected bike lanes between the BU Bridge and Packards Corner in 2020 resulted in a tripling ofbikeshare usage along that segment.[6]
Starting at thePublic Garden and going westward, the following statues can be seen on the mall:
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