I-695, Soutwst X-Way, Mystic Valley Prkway, S. End Bypass

[FK4]

Here's a Boston Globe article from 3/25/69 with a map and a nod to Dukakis:
Linky
Would have marooned Olmsted Park and Leverett Pond inside giant rotaries surrounded by one-way routes, and taken the (formerly) lovely stone overpass over Huntington/Rte. 9... and crapped up the Emerald Necklace for good, imho.

Nice find! I think I have seen that graphic now that you mention it. Totally crazy...

 

[FK4]

Does anyone have plans showing what Pond Ave looked like before they reduced it to one lane each direction? From what I can tell, it used to be a median separated parkway maybe 15 years ago? The bike and walking paths run along what used to be one side of the roadway.

I was wondering the same thing, since I found references online to a late 90s project that eliminated auto traffic on what's now the bike path — but I lived in Brookline Village then and have no memory of it ever being bigger.

 

[Charlie_mta]

After years of reading tidbits about how a young Mike Dukakis fought plans to build another Riverway on the Brookline side of the Muddy, I finally found a map showing a plan for that project. For those that are not aware, the plan, as I understand it, was to have a parkway replace Pond Ave, the end of Chestnut, and the west part of Perkins and then follow Parkman Drive to meet back up with the Arborway. I am pretty sure the reason there's that weird wide part of Perkins for no reason (right before it becomes Goddard) has something to do with that.

Mayor Collins in the mid-1960's was pushing the idea of making the existing Jamaicaway one-way northbound, and converting the roads on the Brookline side to southbound only traffic, so you would have a one-way couplet straddling the Muddy River, Jamaica Pond and Leverett Pond.

I assume Brookline killed the idea.

 

[HenryAlan]

I was wondering the same thing, since I found references online to a late 90s project that eliminated auto traffic on what's now the bike path — but I lived in Brookline Village then and have no memory of it ever being bigger.

I also lived in Brookline Village at the time, and my recollection is that there were two parallel carriage roads, rather than the single Pond Ave. that we have now. One of them (now the bike and pedestrian paths) was in very bad shape.

 

[FK4]

I also lived in Brookline Village at the time, and my recollection is that there were two parallel carriage roads, rather than the single Pond Ave. that we have now. One of them (now the bike and pedestrian paths) was in very bad shape.

Crazy. I don't remember that at all, and amazing to think that this was even in existence... although, of course, Olmsted's intention was literally for carriageways, not speedways, so I can see twin roadways being a nice thing back before the automobile.