In 1870, the B&L built a cutoff from Lake Street to Somerville Junction to connect the newly acquired branch to its mainline.

[6][7] In January 1876, William Robinson installed one of the first test applications of his track circuit signaling system on the line between Elm Street and North Avenue.

On June 14, 1876, Pedro II of Brazil, who was touring the United States, travelled to Elm Street station to view the system.

[2] The city of Somerville proposed to eliminate the five grade crossings on the cutoff within its borders, including the pair of College Avenue and Holland Street at Davis Square, in the early 1900s.

[19] Although residents were opposed to the closures, the B&M wished to avoid the grade crossings on the line, which had seen 70 crashes in the previous six years.

[21] In late 1927, an additional main track was built on the Southern Division from Somerville Junction to the yard to reduce the incidence of stopped freight trains blocking crossings on the cutoff.

[24][25] In 1935, the city requested that the line be grade-separated as part of a Works Progress Administration-funded grade crossing elimination program.

[27] Neither project was built, and the grade crossings were not eliminated; crashes and stalled freight trains continued to be a problem.

[33][34][35] The 1945 and 1947 reports by the state Coolidge Commission called for extensions from Lechmere to Woburn over the Southern Division, and Harvard to Arlington over the Lexington Branch; the cutoff was not proposed as a route.

[21][42] The eastern portion was used to haul dirt removed from the tunnel for reuse around the region; it was abandoned in 1983 except for a short section serving an industrial customer at Somervile Junction.

[47] As of 2024[update], the city of Cambridge plans to reconstructthe Alewife Linear Park to widen the path, reduce conflicts between bicycles and pedestrians, and add additional plantings.

[48] Construction of the paved Fitchburg Cutoff Path took place from September 2010 to August 2013, with a new bridge built over a stormwater management wetland at Alewife.

[51][52] In 1985–86, an access road was constructed from the Alewife station garage to the Route 2/Alewife Brook Parkway intersection, following the cutoff alignment for about 750 feet (230 m).