Alewife Brook Parkway

Last updated

Alewife Brook Parkway

US 3.svg

MA Route 2.svg

MA Route 16.svg

Alewife Brook Parkway Map.svg
Map of Middlesex County in eastern Massachusetts with Alewife Brook Parkway highlighted in red
Maintained by Department of Conservation and Recreation and MassDOT
Length2.05 mi (3.30 km) [1]
Location Alewife Brook Reservation, Middlesex County, Massachusetts
South endUS 3.svgMA Route 2.svgMA Route 16.svg US 3  / Route 2  / Route 16 in Cambridge
North endMA Route 16.svg Route 16  / Mystic Valley Parkway in Somerville
Construction
Completion1916
Alewife Brook Parkway
AlewifeBrookParkway at PowderHouseBlvd.jpg
The parkway at Powder House Boulevard in Somerville
USA Massachusetts location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location Cambridge and Somerville, Massachusetts
Built1908
Architect Charles Eliot; Olmsted Brothers
MPS Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston MPS
NRHP reference No. 04000249 [2]
Added to NRHPMarch 18, 2004

Alewife Brook Parkway is a short parkway in Cambridge and Somerville, Massachusetts. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It begins at Fresh Pond in Cambridge (linking to Fresh Pond Parkway via Concord Avenue), and heads north on the east bank of Alewife Brook, crossing into West Somerville and ending at the Mystic River on the Medford town line, where it becomes Mystic Valley Parkway. The entire length of Alewife Brook Parkway is designated as part of Massachusetts Route 16 (Route 16), while the southernmost sections are also designated as part of Route 2 and U.S. Route 3 (US 3). It is managed by the Department of Conservation and Recreation with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation responsible for bridge maintenance.

Contents

Route description

The southern terminus of the parkway is the westernmost of the two Fresh Pond rotaries, with Concord Avenue connecting the parkway to Fresh Pond Parkway at the eastern rotary. The road is designated Massachusetts Routes 2 (northbound) and 16 (eastbound), and US Route 3 (northbound). The parkway runs roughly north, skirting just east of the Alewife T station to a large intersection (formerly a rotary), where the limited access highway carrying Route 2 to the west begins. The parkway runs north from this intersection, paralleling just east of the course of Alewife Brook, which forms the western boundary of Cambridge with Arlington. The first major intersection is with Massachusetts Avenue, which carries Massachusetts Route 2A eastward toward Porter Square, and Routes 2A and 3 westward into Arlington. The parkway continues to parallel Alewife Brook as it heads north into Somerville. After crossing Broadway, the parkway passes through a rotary-like interchange with Powder House Boulevard. It then passes Dilboy Stadium, on the left, and reaches its northern terminus at a small rotary near where Alewife Brook empties into the Mystic River. There it meets Mystic Valley Parkway, which runs from Arlington just to the west to Medford to the northeast. The Route 16 designation continues northeast. The parkway's total length is just over two miles (about three kilometers).

History

The parkway, with the surrounding Alewife Brook Reservation (115 acres (47 ha)), forms part of the Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston, established in 1893. It was originally planned by landscape architect Charles Eliot as one section of a web of pleasure roads designed for their aesthetics. Nearby Alewife Brook was straightened and channelized between 1909 and 1912, and construction of the parkway was completed by 1916. Landscaping was performed by the famed Olmsted Brothers firm.[ citation needed ] Route 2 connected to Alewife Brook Parkway as a highway in the present right-of-way at some point before 1937. [3]

A drive-in theater was built in 1950, replaced by the Fresh Pond Shopping Center in 1962. [4] The current indoor movie theater next to the shopping center was added in 1964. [4]

Along the southern end, Alewife Brook Parkway underwent further changes beginning in the late 1980s, including a new four lane overpass spanning the Fitchburg Line, [5] [6] new dedicated shoulder turning-lanes for exiting and entering the shopping centers, enlarged roundabouts with obstructive center trees removed, new raised grassy medians down the center of the parkway, and new trees, light poles, and bike lanes integrated into the sidewalks. Some of the other amenities integrated in the new design included accessible ramps and stairs on the northbound side of the bridge leading to the Rindge Towers, new sidewalk access to Alewife station, Alewife Linear Park, bike trail adjacent to Jerry's Pond, and a dedicated road for large trucks to service the shopping areas by passing below the overpass. [7]

As traffic has grown over the past century, the original aesthetics of the parkway's southernmost sections have been largely lost. It is now a section of the principal route between the northwestern suburbs and Boston on the other, and consequently carries a large volume of commuter traffic. The Alewife MBTA station is a prominent feature on the parkway, and there are shopping centers, parking lots, and office and apartment buildings lining the parkway between Alewife station and the southern terminus.

Major intersections

The entire route is in Middlesex County.

Locationmi [8] kmDestinationsNotes
Cambridge 0.00.0East plate.svg
MA Route 2.svg
West plate.svg
MA Route 16.svg
South plate.svg
US 3.svg
Route 2 east / Route 16 west / US 3 south / Concord Avenue Boston, Belmont
Traffic circle; all routes continue south
0.71.1West plate.svg
MA Route 2.svg
Route 2 west Concord
Route 2 continues west
1.11.8MA Route 2A.svgWest plate.svg
US 3.svg
Route 2A  / US 3 west (Massachusetts Avenue) Winchester, Lexington, Cambridge
US 3 continues north
Somerville 2.13.4East plate.svg
MA Route 16.svg
Route 16 east / Mystic Valley Parkway west Arlington, Medford, Revere
Traffic circle; Route 16 continues along Mystic Valley Parkway
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
  •        Route transition

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alewife station</span> Rapid transit station in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US

Alewife station is a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) intermodal transit station in the North Cambridge neighborhood of Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is the northwest terminal of the rapid transit Red Line and a hub for several MBTA bus routes. The station is at the confluence of the Minuteman Bikeway, Alewife Linear Park, Fitchburg Cutoff Path, and Alewife Greenway off Alewife Brook Parkway adjacent to Massachusetts Route 2, with a five-story parking garage for park and ride use. The station has three bike cages. Alewife station is named after nearby Alewife Brook Parkway and Alewife Brook, themselves named after the alewife fish.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alewife Brook Reservation</span> State park and reservation in Massachusetts, USA

Alewife Brook Reservation is a Massachusetts state park and urban wild located in Cambridge, Arlington, and Somerville. The park is managed by the state Department of Conservation and Recreation and was established in 1900. It is named for Alewife Brook, which was also historically known as Menotomy River, a tributary of the Mystic River.

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North Cambridge, also known as "Area 11", is a neighborhood of Cambridge, Massachusetts bounded by Porter Square and the Fitchburg Line railroad tracks on the south, the city of Somerville on the northeast, Alewife Brook and the town of Arlington on the northwest, and the town of Belmont on the west. In 2005 it had a population of 10,642 residents living in 4,699 households, and the average income was $44,784. In 2010, the racial demographics for the neighborhood were 57.6% White, 20% Black, 15.1% Asian/Pacific Islander, 7.3% Hispanic origin, 0.3% Native American, 2.4% other race.

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References

  1. Executive Office of Transportation - Office of Transportation Planning Roads - June 2008
  2. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  3. Imageschlichtman.org Archived May 17, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  4. 1 2 A Brief Chronology of Fresh Pond
  5. Palmer Jr., Thomas C. (August 27, 1993). "Ground finally broken for $10.7m Alewife Brook bridge". Boston Globe. p. 27 via Newspapers.com. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  6. Rosenberg, Ronald (April 22, 1990). "Panel Tables Bill To Scale Back Route 2 Project". Boston Globe. p. 72 via Newspapers.com. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  7. "A Cambridge Compromise". Boston Globe. July 1, 1989 via Newspapers.com. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  8. Google (May 25, 2019). "Alewife Brook Parkway" (Map). Google Maps . Google. Retrieved May 25, 2019.
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