A groundbreaking ceremony Friday for the Shore Drive Greenway marks the coming of a connection of Somerville with neighboring communities as significant as the opening of the Green Line Extension Community Path three years ago – but with trees.
The greenway project brings a 12-footwide shared path through Blessing of the Bay Park, in the Ten Hills neighborhood along the Mystic River, in construction expected to last around a year.
The climate-resilient design adds 85 trees and 1,520 square feet of native plantings as well as underground green stormwater infrastructure that will lower urban heat levels, improve air quality, capture carbon and buffer traffic noise for commuters and recreational users, according to a Somerville city update.
“It’s making this area safer, greener, more connected, and it’s going to make real quality-of-life benefits for thousands of our neighbors,” Somerville mayor Jake Wilson said at the groundbreaking. “This project’s going to make it so much easier and more enjoyable to move through this part of the city, and it really helps one of Somerville’s most important natural assets truly belong to its community.”
Karl Alexander, greenways program senior manager at the Mystic River Watershed Association, noted another benefit: Closing a key gap in the Mystic River Greenway network, from the Mystic Lakes to Boston Harbor.
The greenways connect Cambridge, Somerville and neighboring communities, including via the Alewife Greenway to the Cambridge Linear Park and Somerville Community Path running to the east and connecting back to Boston Harbor, as well as to the Minuteman Bikeway north to Bedford and the Fitchburg Cutoff bike path to the west, part of the Mass Central Rail Trail.
Another greenway section, the Clippership Connector in Medford, opened in the summer of 2025. Ongoing work includes Somerville’s Draw Seven Park Revitalization project; future work includes the Mystic River Crossing, which will connect Assembly Row in Somerville and Encore Boston Harbor in Everett.
To the south of Alewife is the Watertown-Cambridge Greenway, which connects to the Charles River in Watertown. Future work to build a pedestrian and bike overpass over the Fitchburg Rail Line will make this connection easier. Along with the Charles River Bike Path, this forms a big loop around Cambridge and Somerville.
“This project provides a key link in the Mystic River Greenway that will help bikers and pedestrians get where they need to be and also come here and enjoy the space,” said Katherine Antos, undersecretary for decarbonization and resilience at the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.
Planning for the greenway goes back to 2009. In a schedule seen in a May presentation, demolition, excavation and underground infrastructure takes place this summer; early fall brings installation of soil, plants and trees, and late fall sees path paving, installation of lighting and a seed lawn. Next spring is expected to bring more plantings, and the installation of furnishings to wrap up construction in the summer of 2027.
Green benefits
Much of the ceremony Friday, which also drew Somerville councillor Ben Wheeler and state senator Pat Jehlen, focused on park as much as path.
“Welcoming and well-appointed parks and paths are not luxuries – they are essential to day-to-day living and serve as important tools in growing healthy and resilient communities,” Alexander said.
Antos emphasized that “planting trees along Shore Drive Greenway and expanding the park are going to provide relief from extreme heat, which we know disproportionately affects seniors, children, people with asthma and other underlying respiratory conditions.”
“There is so much opportunity here for people who live in a dense urban area to get the benefits of a beautiful park, with lots of shade trees on the river, and get more folks out here and using this park,” state representative Christine Barber said. She noted the House of Representatives is soon voting on the Mass Ready Act, which includes funding for projects such as the Shore Drive Greenway. “The Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness program has been incredibly popular across the state, and really allowed our communities to focus on equity and green spaces in a way that we really weren’t able to do before.”
Wilson went on to thank the many city departments and regional partners involved in the project. “This is a big win for Ward 4, a big win for Somerville and a big win for the commonwealth.”
Project updates can be found at the City of Somerville website.
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