Dorchester Avenue (Boston)
| Dorchester Avenue | |
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| A section of the street in Dorchester | |
| Basic data | |
| place | Boston |
| District | South Boston , Dorchester |
| Created | 19th century |
| Hist. Names | Dorchester Turnpike, Federal Street |
| Connecting roads | Washington Street / Adams Street, Boston Harborwalk |
| Cross streets | Route 203 , Park Street |
| Places | Dorchester Park |
| Buildings | Carney Hospital |
| use | |
| User groups | Pedestrian traffic , bicycle traffic , motor traffic , public transport |
| Technical specifications | |
| Street length | approx. 5 mi (8 km ) |
The Dorchester Avenue (short Dot Ave , former. Dorchester Turnpike ) is an approximately 5 mi (8 km) long road in Boston in the state of Massachusetts of the United States . It runs in a north-south direction from Rolling Bridge Park through the districts of South Boston and Dorchester to the city limits of Milton , where it ends at the confluence with Washington Street and Adams Street . Since it was originally designed as a turnpike subject to tolls , it has a continuous linear course.
history
The Boston South Bridge was opened on October 1, 1805 , where the bridge on West 4th Street is today. It was the first bridge to connect the city center with South Boston via the Fort Point Channel . It was subject to tolls until it was sold to the City of Boston on April 19, 1832 . The Dorchester Turnpike Corporation was founded on March 4, 1805 to build a toll road from the east end of the bridge over the Neponset River to the Milton Bridge , on the other side of which the Blue Hill Turnpike later continued.
However, the construction work resulted in significantly higher costs than expected, and so relatively high tolls were charged. This often led travelers to choose the older, longer route through Roxbury . Still, the Dorchester Turnpike was one of the most profitable toll roads, with revenues increasing steadily until 1838. However, with the commissioning of the Old Colony Railroad , which for the most part ran in parallel, income quickly fell.
In 1826, the North Free Bridge was opened at the location of today's Dorchester Avenue Bridge , which provided an improved connection from the north end of the Turnpike to Dewey Square in the city center. On April 22, 1854, the toll on the Dorchester Turnpike was lifted and the road was freely passable, which was also made known by the renaming of Dorchester Avenue . From 1856 to 1870 the street was now called Federal Street .
Transportation
The Dorchester Avenue Railroad was one of the first streetcars in Boston to operate in 1857 and ran along the entire length of Dorchester Avenue . With the opening of the Red Line running parallel to Dorchester Avenue at the beginning of the 20th century, most passengers switched to the new subway as their preferred mode of transport, so the tram tracks were removed in the 1950s. On the road, public transport operate today in the area only buses of the MBTA .
Classification
The first numbered streets in New England were the New England Interstate Highways, established in 1922 . The then New England Interstate Highway 6 and today's US Highway 3 probably ran along Dorchester Avenue south of South Boston .
In the 1930s, the "C" routes were designated in downtown Boston. The Massachusetts Route C37 led as an extension of the Massachusetts Route 37 on what is now Morrissey Boulevard and met at the Old Colony Avenue on Dorchester Avenue . From there it led on this route to its northern end on Congress Street and turned there in a northwest direction towards the city center.
In the 1970s, the "C" routes were retired, so Dorchester Avenue is no longer numbered.
