It constructed the line from Milk Row station around Charlestown to a new freight terminal built on filled land in the Mystic River between the two channels. After a legal battle with the Lynn and Boston Railroad about the right to cross its tracks, the B&L extended the branch across the Mystic Bridge, allowing ships to dock without passing through any bridges. As the B&L and its successor Boston and Maine Railroad (B&M) expanded Mystic Wharf in the 1880s, replacing the middle section of the bridge with a roadway on filled land, the grade crossings became a significant inconvenience and hazard to bridge traffic. The railroad's construction of transatlantic port facilities, including a grain elevator and coal depot, along with additional crossings of the bridge road brought the issue to a head in 1892. That June, the state legislature passed an act authorizing Chelsea to pursue elimination of the grade crossings. The B&M was to pay 65% of the cost, the Lynn and Boston Railroad 5%, and the state 30% (of which part would be in turn paid by Boston and Chelsea). Negotiations between the B&M, the Lynn and Boston, and the cities of Boston and Chelsea took place in 1893 over plans to raise the street onto a viaduct over the rail yard. The B&M was willing to build a viaduct with a wooden roadway wide, but the other parties insisted on a -wide roadway with a granite deck. A temporary south span and roadway opened on May 1, 1894, allowing construction of the viaduct to begin. This was closed to all but streetcar traffic on May 1, 1895. Streetcars began using the new viaduct on August 4, 1895, and it opened to general traffic on December 29. The viaduct was long and raised about above the old grade, with a -wide roadway and -wide sidewalk. Masonry piers spaced apart supported the iron viaduct, which cost $600,000 () to construct. A perpendicular ramp led from the viaduct to the rail yard below. As part of the project, the north draw span was replaced by a retractile drawbridge and widened by to just under . Draw span replacements As the New England Gas and Coke Company prepared to open its new plant upstream, a further widening of the north draw became necessary to accommodate Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation ships serving the plant. Henry Melville Whitney offered to pay $40,000