Jump to content

Arborway

Route map:
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
KML is from Wikidata
Arborway
The Arborway, between Jamaica Pond and the Arnold Arboretum.
The Arborway, between Jamaica Pond and the Arnold Arboretum.
Maintained byDepartment of Conservation and Recreation
Length1.6 mi (2.6 km)[1]
LocationEmerald Necklace, Boston, Massachusetts
West endPond Street in Jamaica Plain
East end Route 203 (Morton Street) in Forest Hills
Other
DesignerFrederick Law Olmsted

Arborway (also known as The Arborway) consists of a four-lane, divided parkway and a two-lane residential street in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted in the 1890s as the southern-most carriage road in a series of parkways connecting parks from Boston Common in downtown Boston to Franklin Park in Roxbury. This park system has since become known as the Emerald Necklace.

It was included in the landscape complex called the Olmsted Park that was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 8, 1971.[2]

Description

[edit]

The Arborway begins at a large rotary that connects it with the Jamaicaway, and curves past the main entrance of Arnold Arboretum (125 Arborway), where on-street parking is allowed. The roadway once continued through Forest Hills to the edge of Franklin Park, but now ends at the South Street border of the Arboretum. From there, traffic exits into Forest Hills next to Forest Hills Station. The entire roadway is signed as Massachusetts Route 203, which continues along the parkway as Morton Street.

Casey Overpass

[edit]

Named Monsignor William J. Casey Overpass in honor of a Depression-era priest of St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Jamaica Plain, the overpass was opened in November 1953 to allow the increasing automobile traffic of the day to bypass the north-south traffic on Washington Street, South Street, and Hyde Park Avenue.[3] In the 2000s, community groups were investigating the possibility of fixing this "missing link" in the Emerald Necklace.[4] The Massachusetts Department of Transportation determined the overpass "structurally deficient" in 2010 and started work on replacing it with an at-grade roadway.[5] The overpass was demolished in 2015.[6]

Major intersections

[edit]

The entire route is in the city of Boston.

Locationmi[1]kmDestinationsNotes
Jamaica Plain0.00.0Francis Parkman Drive / Pond Street / Jamaicaway northTraffic circle; southern terminus of Jamaicaway
0.40.64Centre StreetTraffic circle; western terminus of Route 203
Forest Hills1.62.6
Route 203 east (Morton Street) / Circuit Drive
Route 203 continues east as Morton Street
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
  •       Route transition

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "Arborway" (Map). Google Maps. Retrieved May 24, 2019.
  2. ^ "National Register Information System – Olmsted Park System (#71000086)". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007. Retrieved December 17, 2022.
  3. ^ "Forest Hills overpass opened". Boston Globe. November 27, 1953. p. 61 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  4. ^ Rappaport Institute, "Casey Overpass" Archived September 7, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ "About the Project - Casey Overpass". www.massdot.state.ma.us. MassDOT Highway. Archived from the original on 2017-01-17. Retrieved 2017-01-22.
  6. ^ "Casey Overpass is coming down, to the delight of some, and the dismay of others - The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved 2017-01-22.
[edit]