Bill Warner’s Blog

Proposed route of the Inner Belt (I-695). Notice that it would have razed Brookline Ave in Cambridge, through Central Square, and then taken out Norfolk Street on its way to Somerville

The report detail every building and every family that would be affected in Roxbury. It's very interesting to see how the proposed destruction would affect people, house by house. Views the full listing here.

This photo shows the exit for I-695 (The Inner Belt). Part of it was built, and you can see where the proposed highway was to go. Note the old factory buildings along Albany street in the lower right. You can see them in the new photo below. Also note that the Fort Point Channel used to go all the way to Mass Ave, and you can see it in all its non-glory, to the right of the exit ramps. Also notice the amount of traffic on the highway. Not much.

Here's the same area from Bing Maps. They do a great job with oblique aerial photos, but few people know that they have this extensive photography, which looks much different than the straight down aerials we're used to.

Notice the round brick building in the lower left. You can locate that building in the new aerial. The path for I-695 was taken in Roxbury, and when the highway was cancelled in the 1970's, the right of way became Melina Cass Boulevard.

The round building at the bottom of the photo is an old gas holder that used to store gas for lighting. This Roxbury map from 1883 (Open it here using the Boston Atlas) shows the gas holder, and Mass Ave's old name: East Chester Park. It also shows the "Roxbury Canal" at the end of the Fort Point Channel. (the canal is quite degraded by the time these photos were taken in the 60's)

The highway continues along right near the Museum of Fine Arts, and directly in front of Wentworth College. In the lower right is the United Drug Company. (This was the company that became Rexall Drugs. Northeastern University bought many of their buildings, and this is the site of part of their campus. (It looks like lowest of the United Drug buildings is now a part of the Northeastern University campus. The Orange line takes the path of the rail lines shown in the photo above.)

From this aerial photo, it looks like the taking or the highway stopped before it got the Museum of Fine Arts.

This 1931 of Roxbury (open it here.) Clearly shows the Museum of Fine Arts, Wentworth Institute, and the United Drug Company.

Here the highway goes past the Museum, and right in front of Simmons and Emanual Colleges. I had heard talk that it might have been set underground at the Fens.

1931 map sowing the area.

Finally, here's a look at the whole system, as proposed. You can see how I-95 (the unbuilt SouthWEST expressway) was supposed to connect to the Inner belt. Also notice that what became Route 2 looks like was supposed to branch out to what became Route 3.

Links:

http://www.bostonroads.com/roads/southwest/  (Southwest Expressway)

http://places.designobserver.com/media/pdf/Bostons_South_1265.pdf  (Details about how Southwest Corridor was reused)

Other links (from Inner Belt Expressway Unbuilt)

I-695 (Massachusetts) (Scott Oglesby)

Boston's Canceled Highways (Scott Moore) (link changed to wayback machine archive...could be slow)

Boston University Bridge (Boston University)

The Urban Ring (Center for Urban and Regional Policy, Northeastern University)

Interstate Plans (1955 "Yellow Book" map) (Adam Froehlig)

Expressway Plans (1965) (Massachusetts Department of Public Works)