 In 1980, a federal judge ruled that the Lexington Branch must be restored after construction of the parking garage at Alewife station over the right-of-way.In 1981, the MBTA entered into an agreement with the Town of Arlington to advocate that the Lexington Branch be abandoned.In return for the MBTA's support for converting the railroad to a bikeway, Arlington allowed the MBTA to use some of its land as a construction staging area for the Red Line extension project.