I found a digitized copy of....

[Kahta]

I found a digitized copy of the 1968 Recommended Highway and Transit Plan... problem is, it's not publicly accessible.

http://books.google.com/books?id=fcc...s:Li4UKO6Ot1wC

[BostonUrbEx]

It says they should have it in the Transit Library in Park Plaza.

[vanshnookenraggen]

That was a tease.

[Kahta]

Originally Posted by BostonUrbEx

It says they should have it in the Transit Library in Park Plaza.

I moved to Arkansas (for work)-- so Boston is kind of far for me right now. Though I am back on vacation right now.

[Kahta]

I grabbed some pics of the 1968 plan yesterday-- I'll put them up later.

Basically, everything they wanted to do never got accomplished.

[Kahta]

https://plus.google.com/photos/11242...Mm9pNLmqbj5gAE


You should be able to see all the photos I took from that link.

[BostonUrbEx]

I find the Beverly-Salem connector interesting (more specifically just to Salem alone). I don't want to advocate more autocentricity or spoil Salem's urban fabric, but it probably would have done wonders for growth the past half century.

[Kahta]

Originally Posted by BostonUrbEx

I find the Beverly-Salem connector interesting (more specifically just to Salem alone). I don't want to advocate more autocentricity or spoil Salem's urban fabric, but it probably would have done wonders for growth the past half century.

That whole area is in desperate need for a highway-- it's got a pretty high population density. I've said it before, and I'll say it again Lowell and Lawrence have been revitalized because of their proximity to 495/93. Lynn is stuck and will always be there unless there is better highway access.

[Ron Newman]

Lawrence has been revitalized? Lowell, sure. But Lawrence?

[vanshnookenraggen]

Highways don't revitalize cities, they revitalize rural areas by draining cities and allowing development of greenfields. Name one American city that was brought back from the brink by a highway.

Edit: Las Vegas doesn't count.

[Kahta]

Originally Posted by Ron Newman

Lawrence has been revitalized? Lowell, sure. But Lawrence?

I meant Haverhill.

Originally Posted by vanshnookenraggen

Highways don't revitalize cities, they revitalize rural areas by draining cities and allowing development of greenfields. Name one American city that was brought back from the brink by a highway.

Edit: Las Vegas doesn't count.

Lowell, Haverhill, Worcester to a degree (if it didn't have highway access, it wouldn't be where it is today)

Leominster has turned around without question because of the proximity to rt 2.

[whighlander]

Originally Posted by vanshnookenraggen

Highways don't revitalize cities, they revitalize rural areas by draining cities and allowing development of greenfields. Name one American city that was brought back from the brink by a highway.

Edit: Las Vegas doesn't count.

Van -- I think that you can make a fair case for the revitalizing effects on the post WWII somnolent Boston (within City limits) of the Expressway / Central artery and the Turnpike Extension with lesser and more indirect contributions by I-93 and Rt-2

What Rt-128 did for Waltham, Lexington, Burlington, Woburn in the north and Newton, Needham, Dedham in the south -- the combination of the Tobin Bridge, Rt-2, SE expressway and Turnpike Extension did the same for the Back Bay and the Fin Dist

Not that the above is a justification of the process of how those roads entered the city and the internal destruction or at least disruption -- but to deny their contribution is to be unaware of the history

[F-Line to Dudley]

Originally Posted by whighlander

Van -- I think that you can make a fair case for the revitalizing effects on the post WWII somnolent Boston (within City limits) of the Expressway / Central artery and the Turnpike Extension with lesser and more indirect contributions by I-93 and Rt-2

What Rt-128 did for Waltham, Lexington, Burlington, Woburn in the north and Newton, Needham, Dedham in the south -- the combination of the Tobin Bridge, Rt-2, SE expressway and Turnpike Extension did the same for the Back Bay and the Fin Dist

Not that the above is a justification of the process of how those roads entered the city and the internal destruction or at least disruption -- but to deny their contribution is to be unaware of the history

128 follows more the world model of metro area expressways: get 'em from the low-density areas to the foot of the city and to every access point on the perimeter, but then blend into the city fabric on the last-miles leg. Most Euro highways systems--Paris a good example--go around the city and then transition into highish-capacity urban boulevards dissolving into the city center. The countries that did cut a gash or two through the cities--London's Westway the most reviled example--are seen as national embarrassments sticking out like throbbing sore thumb from other cities that kept it conservative. 128 (from its stickered route days in the 30's to the expressway era), is of the most successful examples of growth beltways in the country facilitating expansion of the metro core. 495 as well, to echo effect.

Getting to the city line and integrating into a well-planned but not-excessive parkway system and dense transit system fits the Euro city-outskirts model well in a de facto old Europe city like Boston. Instead we've got the worst of both worlds by making the classic mistake of building urban highways in from the belt to get through, not to the city...then abandoning the designed system half-finished. All-or-nothing...once you start building you can't stop or else the traffic will never flow right, and once you start razing buildings and ripping up the block-to-block fabric you can never stop till the destruction and separation are complete. Nobody drew up these plans safeguarding against possibility of any one segment proving too hard to build, so the system's design dependencies were total. In the end systemic flow proved only as robust as its weakest or most incomplete link.