Commonwealth Avenue (colloquially referred to as Comm Ave by locals) is a major street in the cities of Boston and Newton, Massachusetts. It begins at the western edge of the Boston Public Garden, and continues west through the neighborhoods of the Back Bay, Kenmore Square, Boston University, Allston, Brighton and Chestnut Hill. It continues as part of Route 30 through Newton until it crosses the Charles River at the border of the town of Weston. Description Often compared to Georges-Eugène Haussmann's Paris boulevards, Commonwealth Avenue in Back Bay is a parkway divided at center by a wide grassy mall. This greenway, called Commonwealth Avenue Mall, is punctuated with statuary and memorials, and forms the narrowest "link" in the Emerald Necklace. It connects the Public Garden to the Fens. Where Commonwealth Avenue reaches Kenmore Square, the MBTA Green Line B branch rises above ground and dominates the center of the roadway through the campus of Boston University and the neighborhoods of Allston and Brighton. After leaving Boston and entering Chestnut Hill, the avenue passes by Boston College and the terminus of the MBTA Green Line B Branch. The trolley in the median is replaced by grass as the scenery becomes noticeably more suburban and residential, and the Commonwealth Avenue Historic District begins. As the road continues into Newton, Comm Ave is still made up of two roadways separated by a grassy median lined with trees. The south side of the roadway contains the main, two-lane east-west roadway, with a one-way, westbound "carriage road" providing local access on the north side of the median. The section of Comm Ave from Cleveland Circle in Brighton to Route 16 in Newton is along the Boston Marathon route, and is known to be especially hilly, containing the three “Newton hills”. The carriage road continues into West Newton, and the road passes over the Massachusetts Turnpike in the Auburndale section of Newton. The avenue ends as it leaves Newton, crosses the Charles River and interchanges with Route 128. The linear stretch of Commonwealth Avenue between Kenmore Square and Packard's Corner (where Brighton Avenue maintains a straight continuum and Commonwealth Avenue splits off) is well known to be Boston University territory. Boston University owns much of the property along and around this part of Commonwealth Avenue and either rents it out or uses it for its own purposes. This 1.5-mile stretch is the most central route to