Arborway (also known as The Arborway) consists of a four-lane, divided
parkway
A parkway is a landscaped thoroughfare.''"parkway."''Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. Merriam-Webster, 2002. http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com (14 Apr. 2007). The term is particularly used for a roadway in a park or ...
and a two lane residential street in the
Jamaica Plain
Jamaica Plain is a neighborhood of in the City of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Settled by Puritans seeking farmland to the south, it was originally part of the former Town of Roxbury, now also a part of the City of Boston. The commun ...
neighborhood of
Boston, Massachusetts. It was designed by
Frederick Law Olmsted
Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the USA. Olmsted was famous for co- ...
in the 1890s as the south most carriage road in a series of parkways connecting parks from
Boston Common
The Boston Common (also known as the Common) is a public park in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest city park in the United States. Boston Common consists of of land bounded by Tremont Street (139 Tremont St.), Park Street, Beacon ...
in downtown Boston to
Franklin Park in
Roxbury. This park system has since become known as the
Emerald Necklace
The Emerald Necklace consists of a 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 ...
of Boston.
It was included in the landscape complex called the
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.
...
that was placed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
on December 8, 1971.
Description
The Arborway begins at a large
rotary that connects it with the
Jamaicaway
Jamaicaway (also known as The Jamaicaway) is a four-lane, undivided parkway in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts near the border of Brookline.
History
Jamaicaway was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted as part of Emerald ...
, and curves past the main entrance of
Arnold Arboretum
The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University is a botanical research institution and free public park, located in the Jamaica Plain and Roslindale neighborhoods of Boston, Massachusetts. Established in 1872, it is the oldest public arboretum in N ...
(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
Route 203 is a east-west state highway located wholly within the city of Boston, Massachusetts. The western terminus is at Centre Street (formerly U.S. Route 1) in Jamaica Plain and the eastern terminus is at the Southeast Expressway ( Inters ...
, which continues along the parkway as
Morton Street
Morton Street is a street in southern Boston, Massachusetts. It extends from the southeastern end of the Arborway in Jamaica Plain to Washington Street in the Lower Mills Village of Dorchester. Most of the road is a connecting parkway, signed ...
.
Casey Overpass
Named ''Monsignor William J. Casey Overpass'' in honor of a
Depression-era
priest
A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...
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. In the 2000s, community groups were investigating the possibility of fixing this "missing link" in the Emerald Necklace. The
Massachusetts Department of Transportation
The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) oversees roads, public transit, aeronautics, and transportation licensing and registration in the US state of Massachusetts. It was created on November 1, 2009, by the 186th Session of t ...
determined the overpass "structurally deficient" in 2010 and started work on replacing it with an at-grade roadway. The overpass was demolished in 2015.
Major intersections
The entire route is in the city of
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
.
See also
*
Arborway (MBTA station)
Arborway station was an MBTA light rail stop and bus transfer location in Boston, Massachusetts. It served the MBTA Green Line E branch. It was located in Arborway Yard near the Forest Hills station complex. It closed in 1985 when the outer se ...
*
M.T.A. (song)
References
External links
Arnold ArboretumThe Emerald Necklace Conservancy
{{Streets and squares in Boston
Emerald Necklace
Frederick Law Olmsted works
Parkways in Massachusetts
Streets in Boston