Отмененное шоссе в Большом Бостоне

the cancelled highway in Greater Boston

The Southwest Corridor or Southwest Expressway was a project designed to bring an eight lane highway into the City of Boston from a direction southwesterly of downtown. It was supposed to connect with Interstate 95 (I 95) at Route 128. As originally designed, it would have followed the right of way of the former Penn Central/New Haven Railroad mainline (current Amtrak Northeast Corridor) running from Readville, north through Roslindale, Forest Hills and Jamaica Plain, where it would have met the also cancelled I 695 (Inner Belt Expressway). The 50 foot wide (15 m) median for the uncompleted "Southwest Expressway" would have carried the southwest stretch of the MBTA Orange Line within it, replacing the Washington Street Elevated railway's 1901/1909 built elevated railbed. Another highway, the four lane South End Bypass, was proposed to run along the railroad corridor between I 695 in Roxbury and I 90 near Back Bay.

The Boston and Providence Railroad (B&P) was chartered on June 22, 1831 to build a rail line between its two namesake cities. Construction began in late 1832, and the B&P opened from Park Square, Boston to Canton in 1834. Through Roxbury and Jamaica Plain, the railroad largely followed the valley of Stony Brook. The remaining section of the B&P main line from Canton to Providence opened the following year with the completion of the Canton Viaduct. The B&P, like many early railroads, was primarily intended for intercity travel; the only intermediate stations north of Canton were at Dedham Plain (later called Readville) and Pierpont Village (later called Roxbury). Two additional stations in Jamaica Plain were added in 1842: Jamaica Plain at Green Street, and Tollgate (later Forest Hills) where the line crossed the Norfolk and Bristol Turnpike. The railroad cut sharply into the profits of the private turnpike; it became a free public road (Washington Street) south of Dedham in 1843, and north of Dedham in 1857. The small local cost provided towns incentive to petition for crossing eliminations to prevent public thoroughfares from being blocked by trains and to avoid deadly collisions. In July 1890, local politicians began planning for a grade crossing elimination project on the busy B&P mainline through Roxbury and Jamaica Plain.

The project started in 1948 with Massachusetts Public Works director William F. Callahan's Master Highway Plan for Metropolitan Boston, went through several adjustments and then was terminated in 1972 by Governor Francis Sargent, following popular pressure. Governor Sargent declared a moratorium on all expressway construction within Route 128 in 1970 following the recommendation of the Boston Transportation Planning Review a task force of private experts, headed by Alan Altshuler, that he appointed to study controversial highway plans. Having been witness to recent housing clearances for the Interstate 93 expressway and Massachusetts Turnpike, as well as similar projects in New York City and other cities, the population of the affected area was largely unwilling to repeat similar costs for another expressway. The Interstate Highway Option, which allowed the state to transfer the $600 million earmarked for highway construction to fund the mass transit project, was not approved by Congress until 1973. Fred Salvucci described Sargent's decision to cancel the expressway before the Interstate Highway Option transfer as "It was like he jumped off the top of the Prudential Center and hoped that Alan Altshuler would have a net woven to catch him by the time he got to the bottom." The Route 128/I 93/I 95 interchange was nearly completed, leaving unused ramps north of the interchange and two unused bridges which were later removed. In 1973, the state planned to build a 300 space parking garage – to be served by express buses to Boston, Providence, and Logan Airport – on the stub end of I 95 just inside Route 128. However, the project was unpopular with residents in Milton. Two sections of the railroad embankment remain – one along Mindoro Street just north of Roxbury Crossing, and the other behind the former Highland Brewery at New Heath Street. Numerous granite blocks were recycled in the Southwest Corridor Park and as walls in the Emerald Necklace park system. In 1989, the Southwest Corridor project was awarded a Federal Design Achievement Award by the National Endowment for the Arts, which stated that "in its social vision, as well as its design and engineering requirements, the Southwest Corridor Project is a model for contemporary urban design.

Much like what had been planned for the median of the unbuilt Southwest Expressway/I 95 right of way, part of the corridor was later recycled into the new route for two tracks for the MBTA's Orange Line and three tracks for Amtrak's Northeast Corridor and the MBTA's Needham and Readville commuter lines with much of the surface area being developed as a linear park. The Amtrak trains used diesel until 1999 when Amtrak completed overhead catenary electrification of the line between New Haven and Boston. Several houses were torn down on the corner of Cummins Highway and Rowe Street in Roslindale to make room for an interchange. That land is now used as the Southwest Boston Community Gardens.

The Southwest Corridor Park, maintained by the state DCR, has become a vibrant space for pedestrians, bicyclists, dog walkers, amateur sports leagues, and community gardeners. The Southwest Corridor Park Conservancy helps maintain gardens, runs summer youth projects in the park, and keeps a website with maps and photos.