Atlantic Avenue (Boston)

Atlantic Avenue
	I-93 in Boston
North end	Commercial Street

Atlantic Avenue is a street in

I-93) and partly running along the Boston Harbor

. It has a long history, with several relocations along the way.

History

What is now Atlantic Avenue was once part of Broad Street, only existing from the road still known as Broad Street south to

South Station). Federal Street (which now only goes north from Dewey Square) continued south from Dewey Square through the current location of South Station to the Federal Street Bridge (now the Dorchester Street Bridge) and on to South Boston

and points south.

From 1868 to 1874,[1] the section north of Broad Street was built, taking it into Commercial Street, with which it formed a waterfront route around the

wharves, notably Long Wharf, and the water west of Atlantic Avenue was filled in. The Union Freight Railroad

was completed in 1872, taking freight between the lines on the north and south sides of downtown, and running along the middle of the full length of Atlantic Avenue.

In 1899,

New York, New Haven and Hartford railroads), which after crossing the railroads immediately turned back to the south and crossed the Fort Point Channel. The road ended at the large intersection of Dorchester Avenue, Foundry Street and West First Street, serving the same purpose as Federal Street - taking vehicles to this intersection from Dewey Square

.

The viaduct was gone by 1923, and Atlantic Avenue was truncated to just south of Kneeland Street at the S-curve. Traffic formerly using Atlantic Avenue to South Boston now used Dorchester Avenue around the east side of South Station, or headed west on Kneeland Street and south on Albany Street to one of the other Fort Point Channel crossings.

The next change happened in the 1950s, when the

Purchase Street on the other side of the Artery. Atlantic Avenue was kept two-way south of Dewey Square, where through traffic used the Surface Artery

.

The Union Freight Railroad was abandoned in 1970, removing tracks from the center of Atlantic Avenue. Soon after, the road was realigned inland from Broad and High Streets most of the way to its north end, where it turned northeast and returned to its original alignment for the final block to Commercial Street, roughly along the old Mercantile and Richmond Streets. A short section of Old Atlantic Avenue exists in the original location between Milk and State Streets.

When the

Big Dig put the Artery underground in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the full section along the Artery, as well as the southern end, was converted to one-way northbound, with southbound traffic on the other side, known in sections as Surface Artery, Purchase Street and again Surface Artery. The new northbound tunnel was built under Atlantic Avenue south of Dewey Square

. Only the part curving away from the Artery to end at Commercial Street remained two-way. South of Kneeland Street, a ramp from the northbound Artery and its frontage road joins the intersection of Kneeland Street and Atlantic Avenue.

Railroads and other transportation

By 1871, the

North Station

.

In 1872, the Union Freight Railroad was built along Atlantic Avenue, connecting freight lines on both sides of downtown. It was removed in 1970. The 1899 extension of Atlantic Avenue also resulted in a realignment of the railroad.

From 1901 to 1938 (torn down in the early 1940s), the Atlantic Avenue Elevated carried passengers above Atlantic Avenue north of Beach Street.

By 1925, all streetcar tracks had been removed from the central part of downtown, and tracks along Atlantic Avenue north of

Dewey Square

) took streetcars around downtown. These too were gone by 1953.

Big Dig

).

None of Atlantic Avenue has ever been part of a numbered

Interstate

route.

External links

The Boston Atlas (
Java
)

KML file (edit • help)

Template:Attached KML/Atlantic Avenue (Boston)

KML is from Wikidata

v t e Streets and squares in Boston
East–west streets	Beacon Street Boylston Street Commonwealth Avenue Congress Street Court Street Day Boulevard Dedham Parkway Fenway Gallivan Boulevard Huntington Avenue Melnea Cass Boulevard Milk Street Neptune Road New Chardon Street Newbury Street Park Street Soldiers Field Road State Street Storrow Drive Summer Street Tremont Street Winter Street
North–south streets	Arborway Atlantic Avenue Blue Hills Parkway Bowdoin Street Brattle Street Brookline Avenue Charles Street Columbus Avenue Dorchester Avenue Enneking Parkway Federal Street Franklin Street Hanover Street Jamaicaway Jersey Street (Yawkey Way) Massachusetts Avenue Morrissey Boulevard Morton Street North Street Park Drive Riverway School Street Truman Parkway Turtle Pond Parkway Union Street Veterans of Foreign Wars Parkway Washington Street West Boundary Road West Roxbury Parkway
Intersections	Adams Square Andrew Square Blackstone Square Brigham Circle Central Square Chester Square City Square Cleveland Circle Codman Square Copley Square Day Square Dewey Square Dock Square Downtown Crossing Egleston Square Fields Corner Franklin Square Haymarket Square Hyde Square Jackson Square Kenmore Square Louisburg Square Mass and Cass Maverick Square Nubian Square (Dudley Square) Packard's Corner Park Square Peabody Square Post Office Square Roxbury Crossing Scollay Square Sullivan Square Thompson Square Union Square Uphams Corner Winthrop Square
Italics denote streets and squares that no longer exist. See also Neighborhoods in Boston Transportation in Boston

History

Railroads and other transportation

See also

External links