Bradford is a small neighborhood in the city of Haverhill, Massachusetts. Its station? Among the least-used on the Commuter Rail, it’s located less than half a mile south of the station in downtown Haverhill, on the opposite side of the Merrimack River. And, in contrast to downtown, it’s in a relatively quiet area. Let’s look at it.
It’s your standard accessible station affair, with a long low level platform with a mini-high. A pedestrian crossing exists to change sides, a red dot matrix board is on the inbound platform, and there’s ample lighting. If you’re willing to walk for 10 minutes, you’ll also reach downtown Haverhill. There were condos being constructed, but would they be affordable? I doubt it. On the contrary, there’s also a lot of single family housing nearby, a cafe, MeVa headquarters, and even the Haverhill Line’s layover yard is located here. If you walk, you can also get a nice view of the rail line over the river, which looks like a nice spot to railfan. Neat!
The good: It’s in a quiet neighborhood and provides relief for Haverhill Station. Furthermore, there’s parking and a lot of houses nearby, which is nice. It’s also pretty good for pedestrian access as well.
The bad: I guess being a mini-high stinks. Street-level signage could also be better.
Nearby points of interest: Downtown Haverhill. Yeah, sorry.
Transit connections:
Commuter Rail (Haverhill)
Overall, it’s a pretty nice station (certainly better than the last one I wrote about). However, it doesn’t really have a lot going for it that Haverhill itself doesn’t. Sorry!
Rating: 7/10
