North Point Park is an park located along the left bank of 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 ...

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 ...

and Boston's West End, created as mitigation for the taking of planned parkland for the construction of the

Big Dig The Central Artery/Tunnel Project (CA/T Project), commonly known as the Big Dig, was a megaproject in Boston that rerouted the Central Artery of Interstate 93 (I-93), the chief highway through the heart of the city, into the 1.5-mile (2.4&n ...

Description and history

The state-owned park opened in December 2007. The municipal boundary between Cambridge and Boston was historically approximately along the center of Charles River, but construction of the park moved the shoreline, putting part of the park in Boston. The park is part of the "lost half mile" of the Charles River, between the 1910

Charles River Dam The Charles River Dam is a flood control structure on the Charles River in Boston, Massachusetts, located just downstream of the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge, near Lovejoy Wharf, on the former location of the Warren Bridge. His ...

, now the site of the Museum of Science, and the new Charles River Dam completed in 1978. The park opening was delayed for several years by a number of logistical and bureaucratic issues, but its design, including small islands, bridges and kayaking canals, has been characterized as "grand" and "ambitious" by the local press. The park was designed by Carr Lynch & Sandell of Cambridge and Oehme, van Sweden & Associates of Washington, DC. The park is adjacent to the ongoing NorthPoint real estate development project. Just upstream of the three new parks in the half-mile (North Point Park,

Paul Revere Park Paul Revere Park is a park located on the Charles River in Charlestown, Massachusetts. The park was the first park to open along the "Lost Half Mile" of the Charles River as mitigation for the taking of planned parkland for the construction of t ...

, and Nashua Street Park) is the Paul Dudley White Bike Path in 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 Lynch Family Skatepark is located in North Point Park under the Interstate 93 highway ramps.

Pedestrian connections

Pedestrians and bicyclists may travel east from North Point Park to

in Charlestown over the MBTA Commuter Rail tracks and the mouth of Miller's River via the

North Bank Bridge The North Bank Bridge (sometimes North Bank Pedestrian Bridge) is a pedestrian and bicycle path bridge in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It connects the Cambridge portion of North Point Park with Paul Revere Park in nearby Charlestown on the northern ...

that opened on July 13, 2012. This bridge, funded by the

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) (), nicknamed the Recovery Act, was a stimulus package enacted by the 111th U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in February 2009. Developed in response to the Gr ...

(ARRA), allows pedestrians to traverse the north side of the Charles River basin. Pedestrian bridges are also planned over the Charles River from North Point Park to Nashua Street Park in Boston, and a South Bank Bridge over the MBTA Commuter Rail tracks on the south bank of the river from Nashua Street Park to the riverfront just upstream of the Zakim Bridge south tower, connecting the Charles River Reservation to Boston Harbor.

References

External links

* {{coord, 42, 22, 9.0, N, 71, 4, 10.3, W, region:US_type:landmark, display=title 2007 establishments in Massachusetts Geography of Cambridge, Massachusetts Parks in Boston Parks in Middlesex County, Massachusetts Tourist attractions in Cambridge, Massachusetts West End, Boston