Completing the last 2.5-mile section of the Upper Charles Trail (UCT) from Holliston to the downtown Framingham train station will require the purchase of 85 acres of land from CSX in Framingham and Sherborn. Though a blighted area rarely used by CSX or even patrolled the tracks are often used by children, dog walkers, dirt bike riders, hunters, and hikers.
Completing the last 2.5-mile section of the Upper Charles Trail (UCT) from Holliston to the downtown Framingham train station will require the purchase of 85 acres of land from CSX in Framingham and Sherborn. Though a blighted area rarely used by CSX or even patrolled the tracks are often used by children, dog walkers, dirt bike riders, hunters, and hikers.
The Swampscott Rail Trail will provide a safe, healthy corridor connecting the town, as well as a key regional link.
Peabody and Salem are collaborating on a feasibility study to look at options for completing the final piece of the Riverwalk connecting their two downtowns.
The Mystic River Watershed Association, is leading a comprehensive, community-driven plan and design for Blessing of the Bay Park and DCR is building initial park improvements.
Initial seed money from Foundation in 2017 gave the City of Peabody the ability to leverage several Federal, State, and Local funding programs to move Peabody's plans for two Independence Greenway Extension projects forward.
While much of Newton’s Commonwealth Ave. Carriageway is a beloved Greenway enjoyed by all, the western most section was reconfigured mid-century and the greenway was removed. The City of Newton is leading designing a restoration of the Commonwealth Ave. Carriageway from the Charles River to Lyons Field in tandem with a large bridge replacement project the state is undertaking.
P.O.W.H.E.R. members have come together to create a vision for Doyle Park, one of Hyde Park's only windows on the Neponset River. After years of volunteers working on park improvements, neighbors are eager to finish the design plans and permitting for the park so they can seek funding for construction and finally enjoy cultural performances, local meetings, cookouts, exercise classes, teen gatherings, play for youth, sitting and enjoying a view of the river, and walking along a pleasant path along the Neponset River at the park.
The Frances Appleton pedestrian bridge linking the Beacon Hill neighborhood to the Esplanade and the popular Hatch Shell is one of the most heavily used footbridges in the state. At 14 feet wide and 750 feet long, it is one of Massachusetts’s longest and most elegant pedestrian bridges.
The plaza and park surrounding the fully restored Brewer Fountain were transformed into one of Boston's most memorable places.
The Solomon Foundation championed the need for a Malden River Greenway Plan and assembled the coalition to finance a plan. The plan was completed with the help of Utile Design under the direction of the Mystic River Watershed Association.
Herter Park Amphitheater, located on the south bank of the Charles River in Allston, is poised to become the one of Boston’s most beloved venues for performing arts and civic discourse. With room for 500 people sitting on benches or on the grassy slopes overlooking the stage, this space offers an intimate, accessible space. The Friends of Herter Park have restored the venue and are managing it on behalf of the DCR.
Greenough Boulevard, once a four-lane highway jammed up against the Charles River, has been been updated to make room for a mile-long treelined river path for walkers, runners, and cyclists. This was done with no significant reduction in the traffic carrying capacity on the parkway. A broad path was extended around the marsh opening up access to a once overgrown and dangerous area.
Four docks were restored by the DCR with private support over a four-year period starting in 2007. The largest of the docks used by Community Boating (CBI) was completely rebuilt and expanded in 2010 to serve CBI’s growing public sailing program.
For decades the Charles Eliot Memorial was overlooked and largely forgotten in a barren patch of ground off the main promenade of the Esplanade. This project, initiated by the Solomon Foundation and Esplanade Association, was intended to create a worthy setting for the memorial, frame views to the river basin, and establish one of the few intimate gathering areas on the otherwise wide open Esplanade.
The half-mile Clippership Connector, named for the Clipperships once built on these shores, will form a critical link in a regional trail system reaching from the Mystic River to the Charles River and the northwestern suburbs. It will help knit together a city divided by the construction of Interstate 93 in the mid-20th Century and make it possible for children to walk safely along the river to school and residents to walk to Medford Square.
A decade of advocacy helped to restore this mile-long stretch of trail along the Charles in Watertown as an accessible river front park and a regional greenway link.
The proposed Charlesgate paths and parks will reconnect the Charles River Basin with the Back Bay Fens and reclaim an area overshadowed by highway infrastructure since the mid 20th-century. Charlesgate will become a regional north/south greenway link serving tens of thousands of people and will be an innovative park for residents in the Back Bay and Fenway neighborhoods.
Upon completion, the Northern Strand Community Trail will be a continuous 12-mile shared use path from the Mystic River to the Lynn seashore. Soon tens of thousands of residents in Everett, Malden, Revere, Saugus, and Lynn will have a new way to connect with each other and with the natural beauty of their marshes, rivers, and beaches. Eight miles will be a rail-trail through Everett, Malden, Revere, Saugus, and Lynn. This rail-trail ends part way into Lynn, and will continue as a separate and safe on-road facility for four more miles through downtown Lynn to the seashore.
The Riverside Greenway is a key regional link bridging the dual barriers of I-90 and I-95. This link, once completed, will open up access to the Charles River. The Greenway will be a continuation of the regional Blue Heron Trail along the Charles River. Starting at Lyons Field in Newton, a network of on-street and off-street paths, bridges, and underpasses will transverse I-90, I-95, and the Charles River to reach the extensive trail systems in Wellesley and Weston. This trail network will unlock access to two miles of riverfront cut off by the construction of the interstate highway system in the mid twentieth century.
The tragic death of a young baseball fan brought support to an ambitious plan to fully restore the athletic fields at Charlesbank.