Fells Connector Parkways: Difference between revisions

Following the enactment of authorizing legislation in 1894, the Metropolitan Parks Commission (predecessor to the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) and today's [[Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation]] (DCR)) began working with Charles Eliot to plan a parkway to provide access from Boston to the Middlesex Fells Reservation. This job was made difficult due to the existence of relatively densely populated areas between the [[Mystic River]] and the reservation. The plan that the commission and Eliot finally drafted called for an arterial trunk (The Fellsway), which would run north through Medford and Malden, and then split into two branches. Fellsway West would provide access to the promontory point at Pine Hill in Medford (now visible on the west side of [[Interstate 93]]) and the western parts of the reservation, while Fellsway East would provide access to Bear's Den Hill in Malden, and points east. These corridors were wide ({{convert|120|ft|m|adj=on}}) rights of way, in order to provide for several modes of transportation: automobile, street car, and pedestrians and cyclists.<ref name=NRHP>{{cite web|url=http://mhc-macris.net/Details.aspx?MhcId=MDF.Y|title=NRHP nomination for Fells Connector Parkways|publisher=Commonwealth of Massachusetts|accessdate=2014-01-24}}</ref>