Field Notes Spring 2016 Issue – Full Article

Casey Overpass removed from the Emerald Necklace’s Arborway

The Arborway is a critical but rather narrow part of FLO’s Emerald Necklace, Boston’s linked network of parks. It is situated in Jamaica Plain, a western portion of Boston, and connects Jamaica Pond to Franklin Park, running through the north edge of the Arnold Arboretum. While the Muddy River project has been getting much attention, things are happening at the Arborway, too, and they are being observed by the Arborway’s neighbor Clayton Harper. His blog, #ArborwayMatters (http://arborwaymatters.blogspot.com/), has covered the Arborway from the design of complex plans to accommodate many users to the present stage where real progress can be seen. Here is Clayton’s recent summary:

The Casey Arborway Project of MassDOT has demolished a huge overpass that spanned Forest Hills and is replacing it with an improved network of surface roads, bike paths, plazas and sidewalks that will reconnect portions of the Arborway that have been broken for a very long time. The pictures below give an idea of how the removal of the overpass has changed one part of the local scene: Note the clock tower that appears in both views:

Before

After

Concurrently, planning is underway to improve vehicle safety and access for pedestrians and bicycles on the northern portion of the Arborway between Centre Street, near the Arboretum, and Eliot Street, near the Pond. These plans involve enormous multi-modal complexities as the community, engineers and designers grapple with the 21st century need to balance the desires of drivers, public transit users, bikers, pedestrians, abutting neighbors and emergency services. And all this within a mature neighborhood graced with a world-famous park that provides recreational 1 opportunity, the rejuvenating power of nature and a respite from hectic city life just as the visionary Olmsted had intended. The preliminary design below by Toole Design Group shows the redesigns of Murray Circle on the left and Kelley Circle on the right.

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