North Point Park (Cambridge, Massachusetts)

North Point Park is an 8.5-acre (3.4 ha) park located on the Charles River in Cambridge, Massachusetts, created as mitigation for the taking of planned parkland for the construction of the Big Dig. The park opened in December 2007. It is part of the "lost half mile" of the Charles River, between the 1910 Charles River Dam, now the site of the Museum of Science and the new Charles River Dam completed in 1978. The park opening was delayed by several years on account of a number of logistical and bureaucratic issues, but its design, including small islands, bridges and kayaking canals, has been characterized as "grand" and "ambitious" by the local press. The park designers were Carr Lynch & Sandell of Cambridge and Oehme, van Sweden & Associates of Washington, DC.[1] The park is adjacent to (but not part of) the ongoing NorthPoint real estate development project. Just upstream of these three new parks is the Dr. Paul Dudley White Charles River Bike Path in the Charles River Reservation. A skateboard park, Charles River Skatepark, in planning since 2001, is now open and is located just North of North Point Park under the I-93 Highway bridge viaducts.[2]

New Bridge and Pedestrian Connections

Pedestrians and bicyclists may travel east from North Point Park to Paul Revere Park in Charlestown over the MBTA Commuter Rail tracks and the mouth of Miller's River via the North Bank Bridge that opened on July 13, 2012.[3] This bridge, funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), allows pedestrians to traverse the north side of the Charles River basin. Pedestrian bridges are also planned over the Charles River from North Point Park to Nashua Street Park in Boston, and a South Bank Bridge over the MBTA Commuter Rail tracks on the south bank of the river from Nashua Street Park to the riverfront just upstream of the Zakim Bridge south tower, connecting the Charles River Reservation to Boston Harbor.[3][4][5][6]

References

  1. ↑ North Point Park in Cambridge nearly ready to open at last. The Boston Globe
  2. ↑ Charles River Skatepark "Charles River Skatepark" Check |url= value (help). Charles River Conservancy. Retrieved 2012-11-06.
  3. 1 2 "MassDOT Board Approves North Bank Bridge". Commonwealth Conversations: Transportation. Mass.gov. 30 November 2009. Archived from the original on 1 December 2009.
  4. ↑ "ARRA Highway Projects Current Status" (PDF). MassDOT. Mass.gov. 3 November 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 April 2013.
  5. ↑ "New Charles River Basin" (PDF). Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation. Mass.gov. 7 May 2013. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  6. ↑ DeMarco, Peter (25 November 2007). "The new parks on the Charles are missing links". The Boston Globe. boston.com. Retrieved 13 April 2016.

Coordinates: 42°22′9.0″N 71°4′10.3″W / 42.369167°N 71.069528°W / 42.369167; -71.069528

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