55-767: 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 north on the east bank of Alewife Brook , crossing into West Somerville and ending at the Mystic River on the Medford town line, where it becomes Mystic Valley Parkway . The entire length of Alewife Brook Parkway
110-480: A competitor to the B&;L. In 1870, the B&L built a cutoff from Lake Street to Somerville Junction to connect the newly acquired branch to its mainline. (Early plans called for the cutoff to connect to the B&L further north at Willow Bridge station . ) Service began on December 1, 1870. In January 1876, William Robinson installed one of the first test applications of his track circuit signaling system on
165-732: A direct route from New York City to Harriman State Park . In New Jersey, the Garden State Parkway , connecting the northern part of the state with the Jersey Shore , is restricted to buses and non-commercial traffic north of the Route 18 interchange, but trucks are permitted south of this point. It is one of the busiest toll roads in the country. In the Pittsburgh region, two of the major Interstates are referred to informally as parkways. The Parkway East ( I-376 , formally
220-770: A four-lane freeway before funding for the road was cut. In Minneapolis , the Grand Rounds Scenic Byway system has 50 miles (80 km) of streets designated as parkways. These are not freeways; they have a slow 25-mile-per-hour (40 km/h) speed limit, pedestrian crossings, and stop signs. In Cincinnati , parkways are major roads which trucks are prohibited from using. Some Cincinnati parkways, such as Columbia Parkway, are high-speed, limited-access roads, while others, such as Central Parkway, are multi-lane urban roads without controlled access. Columbia Parkway carries US-50 traffic from downtown towards east-side suburbs of Mariemont, Anderson, and Milford, and
275-775: A pleasant, shaded route to the park and serve as mini-parks within the neighborhood. The Rhode Island Metropolitan Park Commission developed several parkways in the Providence area. Other parkways, such as Park Presidio Boulevard in San Francisco, California , were designed to serve larger volumes of traffic. During the early 20th century, the meaning of the word was expanded to include limited-access highways designed for recreational driving of automobiles, with landscaping . These parkways originally provided scenic routes without very slow or commercial vehicles , at grade intersections , or pedestrian traffic. Examples are
330-529: A public transport shuttle (initially buses, now the Luton DART light railway). Parkways fitting the definition applied in this article also exist, as listed in this section. The city of Peterborough has roads branded as "parkways" which provide routes for much through traffic and local traffic. The majority are dual carriageways, with many of their junctions numbered. Five main parkways form an orbital outer ring road. Three parkways serve settlements. In
385-555: A stone dust surface was added in the 1990s. Construction of the paved Fitchburg Cutoff Path took place from September 2010 to August 2013, with a new bridge built over a stormwater management wetland at Alewife. The planned Belmont Community Path will extend west through Belmont parallel to the Fitchburg Line, connecting with existing sections of the Mass Central Rail Trail . In 1985–86, an access road
440-624: Is a landscaped thoroughfare . The term is particularly used for a roadway in a park or connecting to a park from which trucks and other heavy vehicles are excluded. Over the years, many different types of roads have been labeled parkways. The term may be used to describe city streets as narrow as two lanes with a landscaped median, wide landscaped setbacks, or both. The term has also been applied to scenic highways and to limited-access roads more generally. Many parkways originally intended for scenic, recreational driving have evolved into major urban and commuter routes. The first parkways in
495-538: Is a limited access road from downtown to the Village of Mariemont. In Boston , parkways are generally four to six lanes wide but are not usually controlled-access. They are highly trafficked in most cases, transporting people between neighborhoods quicker than a typical city street. Many of them serve as principal arterials and some (like Storrow Drive , Memorial Drive , the Alewife Brook Parkway and
550-614: Is a surviving remnant of the Long Island Motor Parkway that became a surface street , no longer with controlled-access or non-commercial vehicle restrictions. The Palisades Interstate Parkway is a post-war parkway that starts at the George Washington Bridge , heads north through New Jersey, continuing through Rockland and Orange counties in New York. The Palisades Parkway was built to allow for
605-473: Is also applied to multi-use paths and greenways used by walkers and cyclists. In the United Kingdom, the term "parkway" more commonly refers to park and ride railway stations , where this is often indicated as part of the name, as with Bristol Parkway , the first such station, opened in 1972. Luton Airport Parkway is somewhat analogous - an interconnect railway station but with an airport via
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#1732775862432660-689: Is currently the only expressway in Singapore that uses this terminology. In Russia, long, broad (multi-lane) and beautified thoroughfares are referred to as prospekts . Alewife Linear Park The Fitchburg Cutoff (also called the Freight Cutoff ) was a rail line running 2.8 miles (4.5 km) from Brighton Street (Hills Crossing station) in Belmont, Massachusetts , to Somerville Junction in Somerville, Massachusetts . It
715-536: Is designated as part of Massachusetts Route 16 (Route 16), while the southernmost sections are also designated as part of Route 2 and U.S. Route 3 (US 3). It is managed by the Department of Conservation and Recreation with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation responsible for bridge maintenance. The southern terminus of the parkway is the westernmost of
770-538: Is just over two miles (about three kilometers). The parkway, with the surrounding Alewife Brook Reservation (115 acres (47 ha)), forms part of the Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston , established in 1893. It was originally planned by landscape architect Charles Eliot as one section of a web of pleasure roads designed for their aesthetics . Nearby Alewife Brook was straightened and channelized between 1909 and 1912, and construction of
825-515: Is now a section of the principal route between the northwestern suburbs and Boston on the other, and consequently carries a large volume of commuter traffic. The Alewife MBTA station is a prominent feature on the parkway, and there are shopping centers, parking lots, and office and apartment buildings lining the parkway between Alewife station and the southern terminus. The entire route is in Middlesex County . Parkway A parkway
880-742: The City of Plymouth , the A38 is called "The Parkway" and bisects a rural belt of the local authority area, which coincides with the geographical centre; it has two junctions to enter the downtown part of the city. The Australian Capital Territory uses the term "parkway" to refer to roadways of a standard approximately equivalent to what would be designated as an "expressway", "freeway", or "motorway" in other areas. Parkways generally have multiple lanes in each direction of travel, no intersections (crossroads are accessed by interchanges), high speed limits, and are of dual carriageway design (or have high crash barriers on
935-695: The Clara Barton Parkway , running along the Potomac River near Washington, D.C. , and Alexandria, Virginia , were also constructed during this era. In Kentucky the term "parkway" designates a freeway in the Kentucky Parkway system , with nine built in the 1960s and 1970s. They were toll roads until the construction bonds were repaid; the last of these roads to charge tolls became freeways in 2006. The Arroyo Seco Parkway from Pasadena to Los Angeles , built in 1940,
990-765: The Fitchburg Cutoff Path from Brighton Street to Alewife station, the Alewife Linear Park from Alewife to Massachusetts Avenue, and the Somerville Community Path east of Massachusetts Avenue. The paths are part of the Mass Central Rail Trail . The line was 2.8 miles (4.5 km) long, running approximately east–west. The west end connected to the Central Massachusetts Branch at Hill Crossing station at Brighton Street in Belmont , parallel to
1045-873: The Fitchburg Division main line (now the MBTA Fitchburg Line ). It crossed the Lexington Branch (after 1927) at grade in West Cambridge and crossed under Alewife Brook Parkway , with the pre-1927 connection to the Lexington Branch near Jackson Street. The line crossed Massachusetts Avenue and other streets at grade, then continued into Somerville, where it ran at grade through Davis Square with crossings of Holland Street and College Avenue. It crossed additional streets at grade, then passed under Lowell Street and joined
1100-614: The Merritt Parkway in Connecticut and the Vanderbilt Motor Parkway in New York. But their success led to more development, expanding a city's boundaries, eventually limiting the parkway's recreational driving use. The Arroyo Seco Parkway between Downtown Los Angeles and Pasadena, California , is an example of lost pastoral aesthetics. It and others have become major commuting routes, while retaining
1155-892: The National Park Service . An example is the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built Blue Ridge Parkway in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina and Virginia . Others are: Skyline Drive in Virginia ; the Natchez Trace Parkway in Mississippi , Alabama , and Tennessee ; and the Colonial Parkway in eastern Virginia's Historic Triangle area. The George Washington Memorial Parkway and
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#17327758624321210-681: The Penn-Lincoln Parkway ) connects Downtown Pittsburgh to Monroeville, Pennsylvania . The Parkway West ( I-376 ) runs through the Fort Pitt Tunnel and links Downtown to Pittsburgh International Airport , southbound I-79 , Imperial, Pennsylvania , and westbound US 22/US 30. The Parkway North ( I-279 ) connects Downtown to Franklin Park, Pennsylvania and northbound I-79 . In the suburbs of Philadelphia , U.S. Route 202 follows an at-grade parkway alignment known as
1265-489: The Red Line Northwest Extension in the mid-1970s included a station at Davis Square , with the rapid transit tunnel running under a segment of the cutoff from Davis Square to east of Alewife station . In April 1980, the west half of the cutoff was abandoned to allow for construction of the extension. The eastern portion was used to haul dirt removed from the tunnel for reuse around the region; it
1320-596: The United States were developed during the late 19th century by landscape architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux as roads that separated pedestrians, bicyclists, equestrians, and horse carriages , such as the Eastern Parkway , which is credited as the world's first parkway, and Ocean Parkway in the New York City borough of Brooklyn . The term "parkway" to define this type of road
1375-636: The VFW Parkway ) have evolved into regional commuter routes. "Parkway" is used in the names of many Canadian roads, including major routes through national parks , scenic drives, major urban thoroughfares, and even regular freeways that carry commercial traffic. Parkways in the National Capital Region are administered by the National Capital Region (Canada) . However, some of them are named "drive" or "driveway". The term in Canada
1430-465: The "U.S. Route 202 Parkway" between Montgomeryville and Doylestown . The parkway varies from two to four lanes in width, has 5-foot-wide (1.5 m) shoulders, a 12-foot-wide (3.7 m) walking path called the US 202 Parkway Trail on the side, and a 40 mph (64 km/h) speed limit. The parkway opened in 2012 as a bypass of a section of US 202 between the two towns; it had originally been proposed as
1485-660: The 0.4-mile (0.64 km) Cambridge/Somerville border–Davis Square segment of the Alewife Linear Park becoming part of the Community Path. Therefore today, the Alewife Linear Park is between the southwest corner of Russell Field to the Somerville/Cambridge border. The Minuteman Bikeway opened in 1993, connecting to the existing trail at Alewife station. The crossing of Massachusetts Avenue, which originally zig-zagged using existing crosswalks,
1540-714: The 1930s called for rapid transit use of the cutoff; some called for it to be connected to the East Boston Tunnel (now the Blue Line ) rather than the Tremont Street subway (now the Green Line ). The 1945 and 1947 reports by the state Coolidge Commission called for extensions from Lechmere to Woburn over the Southern Division, and Harvard to Arlington over the Lexington Branch; the cutoff
1595-559: The B&M acquired the Fitchburg Railroad as its Fitchburg Division. The city of Somerville proposed to eliminate the five grade crossings on the cutoff within its borders, including the pair of College Avenue and Holland Street at Davis Square, in the early 1900s. Most grade crossings on the Fitchburg Division mainline were eliminated over the next decade, but those on the cutoff were not. On January 31, 1915,
1650-594: The Cambridge–Dorchester Line – now the Red Line – north from Harvard station was not considered likely. ) The Report on Improved Transportation Facilities , published by the Boston Division of Metropolitan Planning in 1926, proposed extension from Lechmere to North Cambridge via the Southern Division and the 1870-built cutoff. Among the potential further extensions in the report was extension of
1705-730: The MC was succeeded by the Central Massachusetts Railroad and service resumed in 1885. The B&L, which controlled the Central Massachusetts, was acquired by the Boston and Maine Railroad (B&M) in 1887. The B&L became the Southern Division mainline, while the Central Massachusetts became a branchline. The original Willow Avenue and Somerville Highlands stations were replaced by a new Somerville Highlands station at Highland Road around 1887. In 1900,
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1760-547: The North Cambridge line to Bedford via the Lexington Branch. In 1935, the city requested that the line be grade-separated as part of a Works Progress Administration -funded grade crossing elimination program. A proposal that year by a citizen's group called for a rapid transit extension to North Cambridge. A new highway was to run from the Northern Artery over the tracks at street level, then adjacent to
1815-616: The Southern Division (now the Lowell Line ) at Somerville Junction . After 1887, passenger stations on the line were North Cambridge (also called North Cambridge Junction and North Avenue) at Massachusetts Avenue , West Somerville (Elm Street) at Davis Square, and Somerville Highlands at Highland Road. The B&L acquired control of the Lexington and Arlington Railroad (Lexington Branch) in 1869, and purchased it in 1870, to prevent it from building to Lowell and thus becoming
1870-678: The West Somerville station building was moved west of Holland Street at the request of the mayor to improve conditions in Davis Square . In 1926–27, the B&M built two new sections of track in North Cambridge; these allowed the Lexington Branch and the Central Massachusetts Branch to use the Fitchburg mainline east of Alewife Brook Parkway . On April 24, 1927, passenger service from the two branches
1925-462: The late 1980s, including a new four lane overpass spanning the Fitchburg Line , new dedicated shoulder turning-lanes for exiting and entering the shopping centers, enlarged roundabouts with obstructive center trees removed, new raised grassy medians down the center of the parkway, and new trees, light poles, and bike lanes integrated into the sidewalks. Some of the other amenities integrated in
1980-736: The line between Elm Street and North Avenue. On June 14, 1876, Pedro II of Brazil , who was touring the United States, travelled to Elm Street station to view the system. The western section was built in 1881 by the Massachusetts Central Railroad (MC) (which paralleled the Fitchburg Railroad west of Brighton Street) to connect to the B&L for access to Boston. It connected to the existing Lexington Branch cutoff near Jackson Street, west of North Cambridge station, and had no stations between Hills Crossing and North Cambridge. Service began on October 1, 1881. By 1883
2035-438: The median). Victoria uses the term "parkway" to sometimes refer to smaller local access roads that travel through parkland. Unlike other uses of the term, these parkways are not high-speed routes but may still have some degree of limited access. Singapore uses the term "parkway" as an alternative to " expressway ". As such, parkways are also dual carriageways with high speed limits and interchanges . The East Coast Parkway
2090-782: The name "parkway". In New York City, construction on the Long Island Motor Parkway (Vanderbilt Parkway) began in 1906 and planning for the Bronx River Parkway in 1907. In the 1920s, the New York City Metropolitan Area 's parkway system grew under the direction of Robert Moses , the president of the New York State Council of Parks and Long Island State Park Commission , who used parkways to provide access to newly created state parks, especially for city dwellers. As Commissioner of New York City Parks under Mayor LaGuardia, he extended
2145-518: The new design included accessible ramps and stairs on the northbound side of the bridge leading to the Rindge Towers, new sidewalk access to Alewife station , Alewife Linear Park , bike trail adjacent to Jerry's Pond, and a dedicated road for large trucks to service the shopping areas by passing below the overpass. As traffic has grown over the past century, the original aesthetics of the parkway's southernmost sections have been largely lost. It
2200-420: The parkway passes through a rotary-like interchange with Powder House Boulevard. It then passes Dilboy Stadium, on the left, and reaches its northern terminus at a small rotary near where Alewife Brook empties into the Mystic River . There it meets Mystic Valley Parkway , which runs from Arlington just to the west to Medford to the northeast. The Route 16 designation continues northeast. The parkway's total length
2255-548: The parkway was completed by 1916. Landscaping was performed by the famed Olmsted Brothers firm. Route 2 connected to Alewife Brook Parkway as a highway in the present right-of-way at some point before 1937. A drive-in theater was built in 1950, replaced by the Fresh Pond Shopping Center in 1962. The current indoor movie theater next to the shopping center was added in 1964. Along the southern end, Alewife Brook Parkway underwent further changes beginning in
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2310-491: The parkways to the heart of the city, creating and linking its parks to the greater metropolitan systems. Most of the New York metropolitan parkways were designed by Gilmore Clark. The famed "Gateway to New England" Merritt Parkway in Connecticut was designed in the 1930s as a pleasurable alternative for affluent locals to the congested Boston Post Road, running through forest with each bridge designed uniquely to enhance
2365-678: The routes laid out by the Coolidge Commission. Green Line service would be extended from Lechmere over the Southern Division, and Red Line service from Harvard (with various routings proposed to reach the Lexington Branch); the cutoff was not proposed for conversion. The B&M replaced the Somerville yard with smaller yards elsewhere in the system in the 1970s, ending regular use of the cutoff by "as many as two-dozen mile-long freight trains daily". The route chosen for
2420-609: The scenery. Another example is the Sprain Brook Parkway from lower- Westchester to connect to the Taconic State Parkway to Chatham, New York . Landscape architect George Kessler designed extensive parkway systems for Kansas City, Missouri ; Memphis, Tennessee ; Indianapolis ; and other cities at the beginning of the 20th century. In the 1930s, as part of the New Deal the U.S. federal government constructed National Parkways designed for recreational driving and to commemorate historic trails and routes. These divided four-lane parkways have lower speed limits and are maintained by
2475-442: The tracks on the lowered cutoff to connect to the existing Mohawk Trail expressway at Alewife Brook Parkway. Neither project was built, and the grade crossings were not eliminated; crashes and stalled freight trains continued to be a problem. Even decades after regular passenger service ended on the line, it was occasionally used as a detour route when the Fitchburg Route mainline was blocked in Somerville. Various proposals in
2530-402: The two Fresh Pond rotaries, with Concord Avenue connecting the parkway to Fresh Pond Parkway at the eastern rotary. The road is designated Massachusetts Routes 2 (northbound) and 16 (eastbound), and US Route 3 (northbound). The parkway runs roughly north, skirting just east of the Alewife T station to a large intersection (formerly a rotary), where the limited access highway carrying Route 2 to
2585-467: The west begins. The parkway runs north from this intersection, paralleling just east of the course of Alewife Brook, which forms the western boundary of Cambridge with Arlington. The first major intersection is with Massachusetts Avenue , which carries Massachusetts Route 2A eastward toward Porter Square , and Routes 2A and 3 westward into Arlington. The parkway continues to parallel Alewife Brook as it heads north into Somerville. After crossing Broadway,
2640-525: Was abandoned in 1983 except for a short section serving an industrial customer at Somervile Junction. That segment was abandoned in 2007. As part of the Red Line extension, the Alewife Linear Park rail trail was constructed from Alewife to Davis, opening in 1985. At that time, the Park was 1.3-mile (2.1 km). Except for a short section near Alewife station, it follows the former railroad route. The Somerville Community Path opened 0.6 miles (0.97 km) from Davis Square to Cedar Street in 1992, with
2695-458: Was coined by Calvert Vaux and Frederick Law Olmsted in their proposal to link city and suburban parks with "pleasure roads". In Buffalo, New York , Olmsted and Vaux used parkways with landscaped medians and setbacks to create the first interconnected park and parkway system in the United States. Bidwell Parkway and Chapin Parkway are 200 foot wide city streets with only one lane for cars in each direction and broad landscaped medians that provide
2750-481: Was constructed in two segments in 1870 and 1881 to connect the Lexington Branch and Massachusetts Central Railroad to the Boston and Lowell Railroad . Passenger service lasted until 1927. Freight service ended in 1979–80 to allow construction of the Red Line Northwest Extension ; the line was abandoned in three sections in 1979, 1983, and 2007. All of the right-of-way , except a short section near Alewife station , has been reused for three connecting rail trails :
2805-422: Was not proposed as a route. The 1962 North Terminal Area Study called for the Main Line (now the Orange Line ) to be relocated along the B&M Western Route . It was to have a branch via the Southern Division to Woburn or Arlington (the latter also using the cutoff). The 1966 Program for Mass Transportation , and subsequent reports by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), largely followed
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#17327758624322860-443: Was rebuilt with heavier rails to handle heavy freights headed to and from the new Somerville freight yard. In late 1927, an additional main track was built on the Southern Division from Somerville Junction to the yard to reduce the incidence of stopped freight trains blocking crossings on the cutoff. In the 1920s, the cutoff was considered the most likely route for rapid transit service to Somerville and North Cambridge. (Extension of
2915-429: Was rerouted over these new sections and the Fitchburg mainline; North Cambridge, West Somerville, and Somerville Highlands stations were closed. Although residents were opposed to the closures, the B&M wished to avoid the grade crossings on the line, which had seen 70 crashes in the previous six years. The old line from Brighton Street to Somerville Junction became the freight-only Freight Cutoff (Fitchburg Cutoff); it
2970-420: Was signalized as a direct crossing in 2011. A 0.3-mile (0.48 km) extension of the Community Path to Lowell Street opened in 2015; it was further extended along the Lowell Line in 2023, known as the Somerville Community Path Extension, as part of the Green Line Extension project. The 0.8-mile (1.3 km) segment west of Alewife station through the Alewife Brook Reservation was used as an unpaved trail;
3025-541: Was the first segment of the vast Southern California freeway system. It became part of State Route 110 and was renamed the Pasadena Freeway. A 2010 restoration of the freeway brought the Arroyo Seco Parkway designation back. In the New York metropolitan area , contemporary parkways are predominantly limited-access highways or freeways restricted to non-commercial traffic, excluding trucks and tractor-trailers . Some have low overpasses that also exclude buses. The Vanderbilt Parkway, an exception in western Suffolk County ,
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