The Inner Belt District is a 126-acre (0.51 km2) industrial district located in the southeastern portion of Somerville, Massachusetts, United States. Along with nearby Brickbottom, the Inner Belt is a historically industrial zone of Somerville, with factories, warehouses, distribution centers, railroad connections, regional maintenance facilities, MBTA and Amtrak offices, retail stores and a hotel.
Named after the proposed but doomed Inner Belt Highway, the district is bounded by Interstate 93, Route 28, and the Lowell and Fitchburg rail lines. Inner Belt Road runs through the center of the Inner Belt District intersecting with 3rd Avenue to connect to the MBTA maintenance facility. Although adjacent to the McGrath Corridor, NorthPoint in Cambridge and Sullivan Square in Charlestown, it is isolated from them by highways and rail lines.[1]
An elevated railroad right-of-way separates the Brickbottom area located to the west of the Inner Belt District. The two areas resemble each other in terms of use. However, Brickbottom has older dense development in a grid pattern and has a couple of small neighborhoods. Somerville is currently engaged in an ongoing community process, begun in 2011, to determine a long-term Master Plan for the Inner Belt and Brickbottom region. A draft of the plan should be available for public comment by the end of 2013.[2]
- ^ Rosenberg, Steven A. (5 December 2013). "Somerville poised to grow along Green Line". bostonglobe.com. The Boston Globe. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
- ^ Dreilinger, Danielle (2 April 2009). "Somerville: In city's east, an ambitious renewal plan". boston.com. The Boston Globe. Retrieved 7 December 2013.