Fresh Pond Parkway is a historic

park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...

and

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 ...

on the western end of

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

, part of the

Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston The Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston is a system of reservations, parks, parkways and roads under the control of the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) in and around Boston that has been in existence for over a ...

. The parkway was built in 1899 and added to 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 ...

in 2005. Fresh Pond Parkway is a four-lane road (two lanes in each direction) stretching from Mount Auburn Street on its southern end to a rotary at Concord Avenue (formerly

Cambridge and Concord Turnpike The Cambridge and Concord Turnpike was an early turnpike between Cambridge and Concord, Massachusetts. Portions have been incorporated into today's Massachusetts Route 2; the remainder forms other major local roads. Route description The turnp ...

) and

Alewife Brook Parkway Alewife Brook Parkway is a short parkway in Cambridge and Somerville, Massachusetts. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It begins at Fresh Pond in Cambridge (linking to Fresh Pond Parkway via Concord Avenue), and heads nor ...

to the north. Much of the parkway acts as eastern boundary for portions of the city's municipal Fresh Pond reservoir area and connects the reservoir to the

Charles River Reservation The Charles River Reservation is a urban preserve and public recreation area located along the banks of the Charles River in Boston, Cambridge, Watertown, and Newton, Massachusetts. The reservation is managed by the Massachusetts Department of ...

. The parkway is part of Massachusetts Route 2 (Route 2) and U.S. Route 3 (US 3) for its entire length. The portion north of Huron Avenue is also part of Route 16.

Route description

Fresh Pond Parkway begins at a large interchange with Mount Auburn Street, a major east-west road in western Cambridge, and Gerry's Landing Road, which serves as the connection between the parkway and Memorial Drive, Greenough Boulevard, and the

Eliot Bridge The Eliot Bridge is a bridge over the Charles River between Cambridge, Massachusetts and Allston, Boston, Massachusetts. It connects Soldiers Field Road in Allston with Gerry's Landing Road, Memorial Drive, Greenough Boulevard, and the Fresh Po ...

over the

Charles River The Charles River ( Massachusett: ''Quinobequin)'' (sometimes called the River Charles or simply the Charles) is an river in eastern Massachusetts. It flows northeast from Hopkinton to Boston along a highly meandering route, that doubles b ...

. A median initially separates the north and southbound lanes, which gradually narrows to little more than a jersey barrier at the intersection with Brattle Street, about to the northwest. This section bisects Lowell Memorial Park, with the Elmwood estate the only residence on the east. North of Brattle Street, the parkway has no median. In it reaches Huron Avenue, where Route 16 joins the roadway from the west. This section is residential on both sides. The southern portion of the parkway is canopied by mature trees, and has concrete sidewalks on each side, separate by a narrow green strip. North of the Huron Avenue junction, the road turns northeast to skirt Fresh Pond, crossing the former

Watertown Branch Railroad The Watertown Branch Railroad was a branch loop of the Fitchburg Railroad that was meant to serve the town of Watertown and the City of Waltham, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, as an independent short line railroad; it also serviced the Wa ...

right-of-way, and running for to a rotary with Concord Avenue. It remains residential on the east side, until Lexington Avenue, when that side becomes commercial. The west side is lined by the Fresh Pond Reservation, with southbound access to a public parking area (limited to city residents) and the facilities of the Cambridge public water supply. From the rotary it proceeds west about to its end at a larger rotary, where Concord Avenue continues west, and

continues north, carrying all three numbered route designations. The south side of this section continues to be the Fresh Pond Reservation, and the north side is heavily commercialized.

History

A northbound parkway from the Charles River through western Cambridge was proposed by the landscape designer Charles Eliot as early as 1892. Eliot, a Cambridge resident, had already assisted the city in laying out the Fresh Pond Reservation lands, and believed that a parkway would provide improved access between the Charles River and the

Middlesex Fells Reservation Middlesex Fells Reservation, often referred to simply as the Fells, is a public recreation area covering more than in Malden, Medford, Melrose, Stoneham, and Winchester, Massachusetts. The state park surrounds two inactive reservoirs, Spot ...

. In 1898 the Metropolitan Parks Commission, the predecessor of the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) and today's

Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation The Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) is a state agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, situated in the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. It is best known for its parks and parkways. The DCR's mission is ...

(DCR), began acquiring land for the parkway with the purchase of Lowell Park, formerly a portion of the Elmwood estate. Land takings continued in 1899, and the section between Gerry's Landing and Huron Avenue was completed in 1900. The northern section was completed in 1928-1930, following disputes between the MDC and the city over its route and funding. The connection of Gerry's Landing Road to Eliot Bridge, locally considered part of the parkway, was completed in 1958. As part of the construction of a new water purification plant on Fresh Pond, the northern section of the parkway was reconstructed. The work included new sidewalks, a bike path on the west side, and roadway realignment. Work was completed in 2002.

Major intersections

The entire route is in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

, Middlesex County.

References

External links

{{Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston Streets in Cambridge, Massachusetts Roads on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Parkways in Massachusetts U.S. Route 3 National Register of Historic Places in Cambridge, Massachusetts Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts