Southwest Corridor Park
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Southwest Corridor Park
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 The Southwest Corridor Park from Ruggles Street seen from southbound |
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| location | Boston , Massachusetts , United States | |
| surface | 21.04 hectares | |
| Geographical location | 42 ° 20 ' N , 71 ° 6' W | |
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| Setup date | 1987 | |
| Framework plan | Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston | |
| administration | Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation | |
| particularities | Originally planned route for Interstate 95 | |
The Southwest Corridor Park is a State Park in Boston district Jamaica Plain in the state of Massachusetts of the United States . The park is administered by the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) and is part of the Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston . The area extends for a total of just under 5 mi (8 km ) from the Boston South End over the Back Bay to Forest Hills . Today's park was built in a corridor that was originally intended as a new line for Interstate 95 into downtown Boston. The area closely follows the routing of the Amtrak trains and the Orange Line subway operated by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) from Back Bay station to the terminus at Forest Hills station . The park has several tennis courts, basketball courts, sports fields, and opportunities for hiking, jogging, and cycling.
history
In the 1960s, hundreds of acres of homes were leveled in the Boston neighborhoods of South End , Roxbury and Jamaica Plain to make way for a newly planned 7.4 km stretch of Interstate 95 called the Southwest Expressway . However, the extensive demolition work provoked major protests in the population, whereupon Interstate 95 was merged with Massachusetts Route 128 and the existing route was converted into a park.
The protests forced then Governor Francis W. Sargent to abandon the highway project in 1969. He then campaigned, especially at the federal level, to change the laws so that more funds can be made available for public transport projects ( e.g. subways and light rail routes). Sargent was successful with his cause: In 1973, the United States Congress passed the so-called Interstate Transfer Option , which allowed a state to reallocate federal funds actually earmarked for highways to public transport projects.
On the basis of these new possibilities, the construction of the park was merged with the project to lay the Orange Line . Since land had been bought and buildings demolished along the planned route for the highway project before the end, the route remained a scar in the cityscape for almost ten years. Residents began to plant community gardens in the open spaces. When there were more and more of them and the route became greener and greener, this led to the start of construction of the park in 1978. The first sections of today's park were opened in 1987. Three years later, the entire park was opened to the public on May 5, 1990 as part of a grand opening ceremony.
description
The Southwest Corridor Park is nearly 5 mi (8 km ) in length and occupies 52 acres (21 hectares ). It runs alongside the tracks of the Orange Line and the Northeast corridor of Amtrak from the station Back Bay off at Forest Hills . The park cuts through the Boston neighborhoods of South End , Back Bay , Roxbury and Jamaica Plain . The park has several tennis courts , playgrounds, and basketball courts , as well as trails for hiking and jogging . Bike trails connect the park to the Emerald Necklace and the Arborway in Forest Hills .
| Station of the MBTA Orange Line | Distance from Back Bay Station |
|---|---|
| Back Bay / South End | 0 mi (0 km ) |
| Massachusetts Ave. | 0.5 mi (0.8 km ) |
| Ruggles | 1.1 mi (1.8 km ) |
| Roxbury Crossing | 1.6 mi (2.6 km ) |
| Jackson Square | 2.2 mi (3.5 km ) |
| Stony Brook | 2.7 mi (4.3 km ) |
| Green St. | 3.2 mi (5.1 km ) |
| Forest Hills | 3.9 mi (6.3 km ) |
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Margo Miller: House Tour Highlights an Enduring Neighborhood. In: Boston Globe . October 20, 1989, accessed September 12, 2012 (English, paid article).
- ↑ Oliver Gillham, Alex S. MacLean: The Limitless City . a primer on the urban sprawl debate. Island Press, Washington, DC 2002, ISBN 978-1-55963-833-3 ( online in Google Book Search).
- ^ A b Lawrence W. Kennedy: Planning the city upon a hill . Boston since 1630. University of Massachusetts Press, Amherst 1992, ISBN 978-0-87023-923-6 , pp. 199 ( online in Google book search).
- ↑ Alexander Garvin: The American city . what works, what doesn't. McGraw-Hill, New York 2002, ISBN 978-0-07-137367-8 , pp. 74 ( online in Google book search).
- ↑ a b Ellen O'Brien: Two neighborhoods celebrate completion of park projects. In: Boston Globe . May 6, 1990, accessed September 12, 2012 (English, paid article).
- ^ A b Southwest Corridor Park . Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Retrieved December 14, 2009.
- ^ A b Southwest Corridor Park . Google Maps. Retrieved December 14, 2009.