Park Drive (parkway)

Last updated

Route map:

KML is from Wikidata
Park Drive
Park Drive Boston.png
Map with Park Drive highlighted in red.
Maintained by Department of Conservation and Recreation
Length1.1 mi [1] (1.8 km)
Location Emerald Necklace, Boston, Massachusetts
East end Boylston Street in Fenway–Kenmore
Major
junctions		 Riverway / Fenway in Fenway–Kenmore
West endMA Route 2.svg Route 2 in Fenway–Kenmore
Other
Designer Frederick Law Olmsted

Park Drive is a mostly one-way, two-lane parkway in the Fenway-Kenmore neighborhood of Boston that runs along the northern and western edges of the Back Bay Fens before ending at Mountfort Street. As part of the Emerald Necklace park system mainly designed by Frederick Law Olmsted in the late 19th century, Park Drive, along with the Back Bay Fens and the Fenway, connects the Commonwealth Avenue Mall and Boylston Street to Beacon Street and the Riverway. For a portion of its length, the parkway runs along the Muddy River and is part of the Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston's Muddy River Reservation. Like others in the park system, it is maintained by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.

Contents

Route description

Park Drive begins near the intersection of Boylston Street and Ipswich Street and heads south with two one-way lanes to Peterborough Street. From there an additional one-way road begins with parallel parking on both sides. It runs on the north side of the flowing traffic and is separated by a grassy tree-lined median. The road continues in this fashion until it reaches the end of the Fens where the parking side merges into the main roadway along with traffic entering from the Fenway on the other side of the Muddy River. A parking lane is created on the right and the road travels with two one-way lanes towards Brookline Avenue. Two more lanes are added as it crosses Brookline Avenue and passes the Landmark Center in Audubon Circle. The two left lanes become left-turn-only and facilitate access to the Riverway and the reverse direction towards the Fenway. The right two lanes continue straight through the intersection and two lanes in the opposite direction join it. After its intersection with Beacon Street, Park Drive loses a lane in each direction and continues for two more blocks as part of Massachusetts Route 2 before ending at Mountfort Street near the Massachusetts Turnpike. [2] [3]

Park Drive runs alongside the Muddy River from its beginning at Boylston Street to its intersection with Brookline Avenue. [2] The Fenway, which is located on the other side of the Back Bay Fens, [2] allows for continuous travel in the opposite direction of Park Drive. It is accessible from where Park Drive becomes two-way at Brookline Avenue and ends on Boylston Street near where Park Drive begins. [3]

History

Park Drive with median separating main road (left) and service road (right). Park Drive Travel-Parking Lanes.JPG
Park Drive with median separating main road (left) and service road (right).
Easternmost end of Park Drive near Boylston Street. ParkDriveWithSign.JPG
Easternmost end of Park Drive near Boylston Street.

In 1875, the voters of the City of Boston and the Massachusetts legislature approved the creation of a park commission in order to promote the creation of public parks in the city. [4] Frederick Law Olmsted, the landscape architect of New York City's Central Park, began to spend an increasing amount of time in the area and was asked by the park commission in the mid-to-late 1870s to be the judge of a 23-entry design competition to build a new park. Olmsted felt that all of the submitted plans were subpar and either did not take into account flood control or focused too much on it and neglected the public park aspect. [4] [5] The Muddy River and Stony Brook flowed through the Back Bay Fens (an artificial marshland commonly referred to as the Fens) which were at the time subject to tidal flow, storm flooding, and sewage discharge. [4] The disappointed park commission then asked Olmsted to be its professional adviser and main landscape architect. [4] Under his direction, what is now called the Emerald Necklace took shape. He directed the Fens to be dredged, graded, planted, and turned into a seemingly natural salt marsh to absorb and clean the flowing waters. [6] He then built a series of parks stretching from the Fens near the existing Commonwealth Avenue greenway to Franklin Park some miles away. [5] The parks were connected to each other by scenic parkways, one of which is Park Drive around the northern and western sides of the Back Bay Fens. Originally Park Drive was named Audubon Road in conjunction with the adjoining Audubon Circle, at the intersection with Beacon Street, in honor of the Audubon Society and the vast avian population within the Olmsted designed Fens. Nearby Hemenway Street was also named after Harriet Hemenway one of the founders of the Massachusetts Audubon Society The parkway was renamed Park Drive sometime between 1928 and 1938 when alterations to the Fens resulted in a large part of the artificial marshland being filled for more formal parkland . [7] As part of the Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston, Park Drive is maintained by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), rather than the City of Boston. [8]

The roadway from Boylston Street to Brookline Avenue opened to traffic on January 3, 1892, [9] while surfacing of the remainder of the parkway to Mountfort Street was finished by 1895. [10]

Major intersections

The entire route is in the Fenway–Kenmore neighborhood of Boston, Suffolk County.

mi [1] kmDestinationsNotes
0.00.0 Boylston Street One-way pair with Fenway
0.71.1 Brookline Avenue
0.81.3 Riverway south / Fenway eastTermini of Riverway and Fenway; end of one-way segment
1.01.6MA Route 2.svg Route 2 east (Beacon Street)Route 2 continues east
1.11.8MA Route 2.svg Route 2 west (Mountfort Street)Route 2 continues west
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

Related Research Articles

Brookline, Massachusetts Town in Massachusetts, United States

Brookline is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts in the United States, and is a part of Greater Boston. Brookline borders six of Boston's neighborhoods: Brighton, Allston, Fenway–Kenmore, Mission Hill, Jamaica Plain, and West Roxbury. The city of Newton lies to the west of Brookline.

Back Bay Fens

The Back Bay Fens, often called The Fens, is a parkland and urban wild in Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States. It was established in 1879. Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted to serve as a link in the Emerald Necklace park system, the Fens gives its name to the Fenway-Kenmore neighborhood.

Fenway–Kenmore Neighborhood in Boston in Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States

Fenway–Kenmore is an officially recognized neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. While it is considered one neighborhood for administrative purposes, it is composed of numerous distinct sections that, in casual conversation, are almost always referred to as "Fenway", "the Fenway", "Kenmore Square", or "Kenmore". Furthermore, the Fenway neighborhood is divided into two sub-neighborhoods commonly referred to as East Fenway/Symphony and West Fenway.

Longwood station (MBTA) Boston MBTA subway station

Longwood is a light rail stop on the MBTA Green Line D branch, located on Chapel Street in Brookline, Massachusetts, on the border with Boston, just north of Longwood Avenue. It serves the western end of the Longwood Medical Area, the Colleges of the Fenway, and residential areas of Brookline. The station opened with the rest of the line on July 4, 1959. After renovation work completed in 2009, Longwood station is fully handicapped accessible from both Chapel Street and Riverway Park.

Emerald Necklace

The Emerald Necklace consists of a 1,100-acre chain of parks linked by parkways and waterways in Boston and Brookline, Massachusetts. It was designed by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, and gets its name from the way the planned chain appears to hang from the "neck" of the Boston peninsula. In 1989, the Emerald Necklace was designated as a Boston Landmark by the Boston Landmarks Commission.

Olmsted Park

Olmsted Park is a linear park in Boston and Brookline, Massachusetts, and a part of Boston's Emerald Necklace of connected parks and parkways. Originally named Leverett Park, in 1900 it was renamed to honor its designer, Frederick Law Olmsted.

Jamaicaway Parkway in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston

Jamaicaway is a four-lane, undivided parkway in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts near the border of Brookline.

Riverway

Riverway, also referred to as "the Riverway," is a parkway in Boston, Massachusetts. The parkway is a link in the Emerald Necklace system of parks and parkways designed by Frederick Law Olmsted in the 1890s. Starting at the Landmark Center end of the Back Bay Fens, the parkway follows the path of the Muddy River south to Olmsted Park across a stone bridge over Route 9 near Brookline Village. The road and its associated park form Boston's western border with neighboring Brookline and is popular with local nearby residents in both municipalities.

Fenway (parkway)

Fenway, commonly referred to as The Fenway, is a mostly one-way, one- to three-lane parkway that runs along the southern and eastern edges of the Back Bay Fens in the Fenway–Kenmore neighborhood of Boston, in the east-central part of the U.S. state of Massachusetts. As part of the Emerald Necklace park system mainly designed by Frederick Law Olmsted in the late 19th century, the Fenway, along with the Back Bay Fens and Park Drive, connects the Commonwealth Avenue Mall to the Riverway. For its entire length, the parkway travels along the Muddy River and is part of the Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston. Like others in the park system, it is maintained by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.

Landmark Center (Boston) United States historic place

The Landmark Center in Boston, Massachusetts is a commercial center situated in a limestone and brick art deco building built in 1929 for Sears, Roebuck and Company. It features a 200-foot-tall (61 m) tower and, as Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and designated as a Boston Landmark in 1989.

Boylston Street

Boylston Street is a major east–west thoroughfare in the city of Boston, Massachusetts. The road begins in Boston's Fenway neighborhood, runs through Back Bay, forms the southern border of the Boston Public Garden and Boston Common, and ends in Downtown Boston.

Riverway station Boston MBTA subway station

Riverway is a light rail station on the MBTA Green Line E branch, located at the intersection of South Huntington Avenue and Huntington Avenue in Boston, Massachusetts, slightly east of Brookline Village. The station is named for the Riverway parkway which runs on an overpass just to the west.

Muddy River (Massachusetts)

The Muddy River is a series of brooks and ponds that runs through sections of Boston's Emerald Necklace, including along the south boundary of Brookline, Massachusetts. The river, which is narrower than most waterways designated as rivers in the United States, is a protected public recreation area surrounded by parks and hiking trails, managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.

Dorchesterway

The Dorchesterway was a parkway planned by 19th century landscape designer Frederick Law Olmsted to be a continuation of the Emerald Necklace park network in Boston, Massachusetts. This plan, however, was never implemented.

Fenway-Boylston Street District United States historic place

The Fenway-Boylston Street District is a historic district encompassing a series of predominantly residential buildings lining The Fenway in the Fenway–Kenmore of Boston, Massachusetts. Developed beginning in the 1890s, the area is emblematic of Boston's upper-class residential development of the period, with architect-designed houses built for some of the city's leading families. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

Brookline Avenue

Brookline Avenue is a principal urban artery in the city of Boston, Massachusetts, terminating in the town of Brookline. The Landmark Center, Fenway Park, Emmanuel College, Longwood Medical and Academic Area and Kenmore Square are sites along its length. It runs from Kenmore Square in the Fenway-Kenmore neighborhood, forming a 1.5-mile straight line to its other terminus at Washington Street in the Brookline Village neighborhood of Brookline, Massachusetts.

Pill Hill, Brookline, Massachusetts Place in Massachusetts, United States

Pill Hill, also known as "High Street Hill," is a neighborhood of Brookline, Massachusetts, United States, and part of Greater Boston.

Stony Brook (Charles River tributary, Boston)

Stony Brook is a 8.5-mile (13.7 km)-long subterranean river in Boston. The largest tributary stream of the lower Charles River, it runs mostly through conduits. Stony Brook originates at Turtle Pond in the Stony Brook Reservation and flows through Hyde Park, Roslindale, Jamaica Plain, and Roxbury. It empties into the Charles River Basin just upstream of the Harvard Bridge. Stony Brook is fed by four tributaries, all of which are partially or entirely in conduits as well.

The Boylston Street subway is a light rail tunnel which lies primarily under Boylston Street in Boston, Massachusetts. In operation since 1914, it now carries all four branches of the MBTA Green Line from Kenmore Square under the Back Bay into downtown Boston, where it joins with the older Tremont Street subway. The tunnel originally ended just east of Kenmore Square; it was extended under the square to new portals at Blandford Street and St. Marys Street in 1932.

Ipswich Street line Former streetcar line in Boston and Brookline, Massachusetts

The Ipswich Street line was a streetcar line in Boston and Brookline, Massachusetts. The line ran on Boylston Street and Ipswich Street in the Fenway–Kenmore neighborhood, and on Brookline Avenue through what is now the Longwood Medical Area to Brookline Village.

References

  1. 1 2 Google (May 25, 2019). "Park Drive (parkway)" (Map). Google Maps . Google. Retrieved May 25, 2019.
  2. 1 2 3 "Emerald Necklace Parks" (PDF). The Emerald Necklace Conservancy, National Park Service. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 11, 2010. Retrieved December 10, 2009.
  3. 1 2 "Back Bay Fens Map". Google Maps. Retrieved December 10, 2009.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Garvin, Alexander (2002). The American city: what works, what doesn't (2 ed.). McGraw-Hill. p. 60. ISBN   978-0-07-137367-8 . Retrieved December 10, 2009.
  5. 1 2 Krieger, Alex; David A. Cobb; Amy Turner; David C. Bosse (2001). Mapping Boston. MIT Press. p. 212. ISBN   978-0-262-61173-2 . Retrieved December 10, 2009.
  6. ↑ Fishman, Robert (2000). The American planning tradition: culture and policy. Woodrow Wilson Center Press. p. 306. ISBN   978-0-943875-96-5 . Retrieved December 10, 2009.
  7. ↑ DeFlorio, Joshua (June 2007). Incentive Zoning and Environmental Quality in Boston's Fenway Neighborhood (PDF). Massachusetts Institute of Technology. p. 74. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 29, 2012. Retrieved December 10, 2009.
  8. ↑ Pazzanese, Christina (October 26, 2008). "Mixed signals at a tricky intersection". The Boston Globe . Retrieved November 26, 2008.
  9. ↑ Jackson, William (1892). Annual report of the Park Department. Boston Park Department. p. 65. Retrieved December 10, 2009.
  10. ↑ Jackson, William (1896). Annual report of the Park Department. Boston Park Department. p. 118. Retrieved December 11, 2009. Mountfort Street runs adjacent to the Boston and Albany Railroad right of way that the reference refers to.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.