Fort Point Channel
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Fort Point Channelis amaritime channelseparatingSouth BostonfromDowntown Boston,feeding intoBoston Harbor.The south part of it has been gradually filled in for use by theSouth Bayrail yardand severalhighways(specifically theCentral Arteryand theSoutheast Expressway). At its south end, the channel once widened intoSouth Bay,from which theRoxbury Canalcontinued southwest where theMassachusetts AvenueConnector is now. TheBoston Tea Partyoccurred at its northern end. The channel is surrounded by theFort Pointneighborhood, which is also named after the same colonial-era fort.
The banks of the channel are still busy with activity. South of Summer Street on the west side of the channel is a largeUnited States Postal Servicefacility. A large parcel, home toGillette,lies at the southeast corner of the channel. The back of theFederal Reserve Bank of Bostonbuilding looks over the channel, and another federal building, theJohn Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse,lies on Fan Pier at the mouth of the channel. One of Boston's odder attractions, theHood Milk Bottle,lies on the banks as well, next toBoston Children's Museum.During the 1980s, a nightclub and popular concert venue calledThe Channelwas located on the South Boston bank.
On October 21, 2011, Fort Point Pier opened for public use south of theSummer StreetBridge. To prepare for construction, a fifty-foot (15 m) section of the Fort Point Channel seawall south of Necco Court was restored by P&G Gillette. Public access has made Fort Point Channel popular forkayakingandstandup paddle boarding.[citation needed]
The chief engineer of theBoston Water and Sewer Commissionhas proposed a stormwater barrier as part of the replacement for the now-closed Northern Avenue Bridge. Fort Port Channel drains a large portion of Downtown Boston, South Boston, and Dorchester.[1][2]
Crossings
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The following bridges and tunnels cross or used to cross the channel, from north to south, with building/opening dates:
- Northern Avenue Bridge(built 1908, closed to vehicles in 1997, closed to pedestrians in 2014)
- Evelyn Moakley Bridge(1996, New Northern Avenue/Seaport Boulevard)
- Silver Linetunnel, 2004
- Congress Street Bridge,1930 (replaced an 1874-built swing bridge at same location)[3]
- Summer Street Bridge,1899
- Previously at this location:New York and New England Railroad(shifted toBoston and Providenceterminal in Park Square during construction of South Station which opened in 1899)
- Mount Washington Avenue Bridge(gone, Mount Washington Ave now enters the Gillette plant)
- Fort Point Channel tunnel(1994,I-90)
- Dorchester Avenue Bridge,1925 (formerly Federal Street Bridge)
- Atlantic Avenue Viaduct(1899-1923)
- MBTA Commuter Railbridge, fixed span constructed in 1988, serving theOld Colony LinesandFairmount Line.Previously at this location:[4]
- Six-track, three span Rolling Lift Bridge constructed 1898-1900 to provide combined connection to the new South Station for theOld Colony RailroadandNew York and New England Railroad(via Fairmount). By the time of completion, these railroads had merged into theNew York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad.Remnants memorialized in Rolling Bridge Park, at the same location.
- Original bridge for theOld Colony Railroad,demolished in 1910 (on the site of the 1988 bridge).
- Red Linetunnel, 1917 (roughly underneath the Commuter Rail bridge)
- Broadway Bridge(relocated, new bridge opened January 19, 1999)
The channel now ends here; the remaining bridges cross theSouth Bay YardorFairmount Line.
- West Fourth Street Bridge,1958 (formerly Dover Street, with an older bridge)
- South Boston Bypass Road(opened in 1993 as part of theBig Diggoing east from I-93; follows depressed NY&NE corridor, nowTrack 61[5])
- New York and New England Railroadon a long diagonal bridge, now used by theMBTA Commuter Railand trains to theSouth Boston Freight Terminal- this bridge passed under the next two
- Southampton Street(formerly Swett Street)
- Massachusetts Avenue(formerly East Chester Park)
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^Fort Point Channel floodgate idea advances, but how to pay for it?
- ^BWSC and Hazen (November 2022)."Fort Point Channel Storm Surge Barrier"(PDF).
- ^Historic American Engineering Record(HAER) No. MA-38, "Congress Street Bascule Bridge"
- ^John Sheridan (November 11, 2011)."The Rolling Lift Bridge".
- ^Frank S. DeMasi (November 2009)."Intermodal Corridor To the Port of Boston: The South Boston Haul Road – RAIL CORRIDOR".