View source for Winter Street Concourse

{{short description|Pedestrian tunnel in Boston, Massachusetts}}
{{Infobox tunnel
| name = Winter Street Concourse
| image = Winter Street Concourse facing the Orange Line, August 2018.JPG
| image_size = 300px
| alt = A pedestrian tunnel with brightly painted pillars
| caption = View down the Winter Street Concourse towards [[Downtown Crossing (MBTA station)|Downtown Crossing]] in 2018
| line = 
| location = 
| coordinates = 
| system = [[MBTA subway]]
| crosses = [[Winter Street (Boston)|Winter Street]]
| start = {{bts|Downtown Crossing}} ([[Summer Street (Boston)|Summer Street]] and [[Washington Street (Boston)|Washington Street]], [[Boston]])
| end = {{bts|Park Street}} ([[Park Street, Boston|Park Street]] and [[Tremont Street]], Boston)
| stations = 2
| opened = {{start date|1979|3|9}}
| width = {{convert|30|feet}}
| height = {{convert|11|feet}}
| length = {{convert|467|feet}}
}}

The '''Winter Street Concourse''' is a pedestrian tunnel connecting the upper levels of the [[Downtown Crossing (MBTA station)|Downtown Crossing]] and [[Park Street station (MBTA)|Park Street]] subway stations in [[Boston]], [[Massachusetts]]. It facilitates movement between the [[Green Line (MBTA)|Green]] and [[Orange Line (MBTA)|Orange]] [[rapid transit]] lines operated by the [[Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority]], and consequently alleviates congestion on the [[Red Line (MBTA)|Red Line]].

==History==
[[File:Winter Street Tunnel upper level, July 1913.jpg|thumb|left|Upper level of the under-construction Winter Street Tunnel in July 1913]]
[[File:Winter Street Concourse, February 2012.jpg|thumb|left|The tunnel in 2012 before the south half was renovated]]
The upper level of Park Street opened as part of the [[Tremont Street subway]]&nbsp;– a streetcar tunnel now carrying the Green Line&nbsp;– in September 1897.<ref name="netransit">{{cite web |url=http://www.transithistory.org/roster/MBTARouteHistory.pdf|title=Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district |last=Belcher |first=Jonathan |date=22 March 2014 |publisher=NETransit |access-date=29 January 2015}}</ref>  It was built as a [[cut-and-cover]] tunnel just below the surface of Tremont Street.  From 1901 to 1908, the Main Line Elevated (now the Orange Line) shared the Tremont Street subway.  In November 1908, the Main Line was moved to the parallel Washington Street tunnel under Washington Street.  Similarly-constructed just below street level, it included a pair of one-way stations (Winter southbound and Summer northbound) one block southeast of Park Street.<ref name=netransit />

In March 1912, the Cambridge subway (now the Red Line) opened from [[Harvard station|Harvard Square]] to Park Street Under, one level below the streetcar platforms at Park Street. The line was extended (as the Dorchester tunnel) to Washington (a lower level at Winter/Summer, now Downtown Crossing) in April 1915, and to [[South Station (MBTA subway station)|South Station Under]] in December 1916.<ref name=netransit />  The cut-and-cover tunnel was constructed with two levels from Tremont Street until halfway between Otis Street and Devonshire Street.<ref name=btc1914>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/annualreportofbo20bost |pages=[https://archive.org/details/annualreportofbo20bost/page/30 30]-32 |title=Twentieth Annual Report of the Boston Transit Commission, for the Year ending June 30, 1914 |year=1914 |author=Boston Transit Commission |publisher=City of Boston}}</ref> The bottom level carried rapid transit trains, while the upper level (at the height of the existing Tremont Street subway and Washington Street tunnel platforms) was constructed as a fare lobby above Washington station and a potential pedestrian passageway east and west of the station.<ref name=btc1914/><ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/annualreportofbo18bost |page=[https://archive.org/details/annualreportofbo18bost/page/15 15] |title=Eighteenth Annual Report of the Boston Transit Commission, for the Year ending June 30, 1912 |year=1912 |author=Boston Transit Commission |publisher=City of Boston}}</ref>

The section of upper level tunnel under Summer Street between Washington Street and Devonshire Street was used as planned as a fare lobby with entrances from [[Downtown Crossing]] department stores and as a turnstile repair area.<ref name=nycsubway>{{cite web |url=http://www.nycsubway.org/wiki/MBTA_Red_Line |title=MBTA Red Line |work=nycsubway.org |publisher=David Pirmann |access-date=27 January 2014 |date=2012 |first=Gerry |last=O'Regan}}</ref> The section between Tremont Street and Washington Street under Winter Street was leased as to adjoining businesses as storage space. In 1922 and 1927, it was proposed to be opened as a pedestrian passageway as part of [[Park Street station (MBTA)#1922 plans|expansion of Park Street station]]; the 1936-built expansion did not include the passageway.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/43898995/the_boston_globe/ |title=O'Hare Plan for Park-St Station Designed to End Jams both on Street and in Subway |newspaper=Boston Globe |date=December 14, 1927 |page=17 |via=Newspapers.com}} {{open access}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/52417876/the-boston-globe/ |title=PLan to Alleviate Park St Congestion |newspaper=Boston Globe |date=July 30, 1922 |page=12 |via=Newspapers.com}} {{open access}}</ref><ref name=century /> In 1960, the corridor was used for a temporary art exhibition&nbsp;– a forerunner of the [[Arts on the Line]] program.<ref name=durso>{{cite thesis |url=https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/66801 |title=Subway Spaces as Public Places: Politics and Perceptions of Boston's T |last=Durso |first=Holly Bellocchio |date=June 2011 |publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology |type=MCP |page=54|hdl=1721.1/66801 }}</ref>

On March 9, 1979, the Winter Street section was opened as an inside-fare-control pedestrian passageway to ease demand on the Red Line.<ref name=century>{{cite book |title=Tremont Street Subway: A Century of Public Service |author1=Clarke, Bradley H.  |author2=Cummings, O.R.  |name-list-style=amp |year=1997 |publisher=Boston Street Railway Association |isbn=0938315048 |page=44, 49}}</ref> A ticket counter was formerly located on the mezzanine level of Downtown Crossing station (outside fare control) under Winter Street east of Washington Street.  On August 13, 2012, the MBTA combined customer services (formerly located in a booth at [[Back Bay station]]) into the Downtown Crossing location as the "CharlieCard Store".<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/downtown/2012/08/mbta_opens_new_charliecard_sto.html |title=MBTA opens new CharlieCard Store inside Downtown Crossing Station |newspaper=Boston Globe |date=13 August 2012 |last=Rocheleau |first=Matt |access-date=24 September 2015}}</ref> When opened in 1979, only the north half of the tunnel width was open to pedestrians. In 2017-2018, both halves were renovated to create a wider, better-lit passage.
{{clear}}

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{Attached KML}}
{{commons category inline}}
{{Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority}}

[[Category:Orange Line (MBTA)]]
[[Category:Green Line (MBTA)]]
[[Category:Underground cities]]
[[Category:Red Line (MBTA)]]
[[Category:Pedestrian tunnels in the United States]]
[[Category:1979 establishments in Massachusetts]]