Carl Barron Plaza has its benches and its trees back. The Ribbon, the sculptural structure that curves through the plaza at 632 Massachusetts Avenue, now carries a mural by artist Sophy Tuttle based on plants and animals native to the Charles River. The fencing that stood at the meeting of Mass Ave, Western Avenue, River Street and Prospect Street for close to three years has come down.
Work on the Mass Ave block in front of the plaza has not started yet. The schedules for Central Square's next projects show that the middle stretch of the avenue will be the last part to change. The order comes from the Red Line station underneath it.
The plaza opened first because it was planned years earlier
The plaza rebuild was one piece of a $25 million project to rebuild River Street from Memorial Drive to Central Square, according to Cambridge Day. The city began community outreach in 2018, and construction started at the end of 2023. Before that, the plaza had not had a major reconstruction since it was built in the late 1980s.
The City of Cambridge lists these changes in the redesigned plaza:
- roughly 50 percent more seating
- the illuminated Ribbon and new public art
- expanded landscaping
- upgraded bus shelters
- a separated bicycle connection
Jerry Friedman, the project's supervising engineer, told Cambridge Day that the old design never matched what the square is. "Central Square is the arts and cultural district of Cambridge," he said. "And that wasn't really reflected in the old plaza design."
The Central Square Business Improvement District is now programming the space under the name Under the Ribbon. The plan is a weekly rotation of events, replacing the old approach of programming the plaza only for occasional large events. This was the first full week, October 6 to 10:
Day | Under the Ribbon lineup |
|---|---|
Tuesday | Claude's House, then CARE Team Pizza |
Wednesday | Majestic Community Wellness, then A Trike Called Funk |
Thursday | Cini Coffee all day, Earthbound Children, Tempo International Steel Orchestra |
Friday | Bucket Drummer, then Central On Air presents DJ Rayvino |
Saturday | FOUND Vintage Market, noon to 5 |
The BID says programming will continue through the fall, with new partners and seasonal activities added over time, and it asks visitors to check its blog for the latest schedule. For a sense of scale, the BID's third Central Square Night Market at University Park on September 19 drew about 8,000 visitors, more than 50 local vendors and six performances, Cambridge Day reported. The plaza program is the opposite approach: small events on ordinary weekdays, every week.
"The physical improvements are definitely the foundation, but the plaza is going to need consistent care and activity to really make it successful." Michael Monestime, president of the Central Square Business Improvement District, speaking to Cambridge Day
Under the street, the station's schedule is about to start
The next project in the square is mostly underground. The MBTA's Central Square Station Accessibility Improvements project is at 100 percent design, with a $39 million construction budget. The agency's published schedule:
- Fall 2026: an early package of work, mainly relocating utilities
- Winter 2026/2027: station construction begins
- Late 2028: anticipated completion
The MBTA notes that Central Square is one of the city's busiest subway stations and has two underground platform levels. The project's goal is extra elevators, so riders can still reach the platforms when one elevator is out of service. The bid documents describe the work: two new elevators, one from each Red Line platform up to street level; a replacement for the existing outbound elevator and its shaft; a modernized inbound escalator; and new sidewalks beside the new headhouses. The MBTA opened trade bids for the station on September 25, 2026.
The timeline has already slipped once. The MBTA's October 2023 design-update video projected a spring 2024 start and completion in mid-2026. The current forecast for completion is late 2028, about two and a half years later. At the design stage, the MBTA told the city's Transit Advisory Committee to expect daytime platform work, sidewalk fencing that would expand in the evenings and overnight, and some bus stops moved temporarily. The team said it did not expect to close platforms. Those were 2023 expectations, and a construction schedule takes precedence over them.
Why the bike lanes go in from the ends
This is the station's biggest effect above ground. The city's Central Square Safety Improvement Project will move the Mass Ave bike lanes next to the curb between Inman Street and Sidney Street. The lanes will be separated from traffic with white flex posts, using quick-build materials: pavement markings, signs and posts. The city is splitting the corridor into three sections and building them out of order:
- Inman Street to Prospect Street: installation begins late 2026; the listed installation timeline is 2027
- Pearl Street to Sidney Street, toward Lafayette Square: installation begins in 2027
- Prospect Street to Pearl Street: listed for 2029, because installation cannot start until the MBTA's station renovation is done
The plaza sits at Prospect Street, so the three sections line up with it. The western stretch toward Inman Street changes first, on the plaza's west side. The eastern stretch toward Sidney follows. The blocks running east from the plaza toward Pearl, the stretch the city is holding until the station work is done, change last. Under the current schedules, the plaza will have hosted two full seasons of programming before the avenue beside it gets its permanent layout.
The Cambridge | Somerville Independent described today's layout: a painted bike lane between parked cars and moving traffic, with cars and buses pulling over for frequent short stops. The paper also pointed out that the western section sits near the River Street reconstruction, which runs down to the Charles River and its bike path. Once Section A is built, the separated lanes on Mass Ave will link up with the rebuilt River Street at the plaza.
What the parking change looks like
The city says about 25 percent of on-street parking in the project area will be removed. Most of Central Square will keep parking on at least one side of the street, and some sections will keep parking on both sides, as they have today. The city hasn't decided where the remaining parking and loading spaces will go. It says it will work with businesses and residents on locations and regulations. It met with the Central Square Business District in August 2026 and began joint outreach to businesses with the Community Development Department in September. The project page says plans are "not yet available." The block-by-block parking and loading layout is still open, and comments filed this fall can still shape it.
The two dates to put on the calendar
The city has scheduled two meetings, both listed by the Cambridge | Somerville Independent:
- Thursday, November 12, 6 p.m.: a virtual information session on Zoom; registration required
- Wednesday, December 2, 5:30 p.m.: an in-person open house at the Citywide Senior Center, 806 Massachusetts Avenue, in Central Square
The December open house is the one to attend. MBTA staff will be there to discuss the station accessibility work, so the bike lanes and the station that sets their timing will be presented at the same meeting. If you can't make either date, the city also accepts input through an online comment form and an interactive map where you can pin a comment to a specific spot on the corridor.
If a loading zone in front of your building matters to you, or you have a question about the parking on your side of the block, raise it before the plans are published.
At Sandrine Deschaux + Co, we follow Central Square block by block, including which stretch of Mass Ave changes when and what that means for the buildings along it. If you own near the corridor and want to talk through how the 2026 to 2029 timeline affects your plans, Schedule a Consultation and we'll go through it with you.
