Soldiers Field Road

Soldiers Field Road
	Soldiers Field Road highlighted in red
Maintained by	Massachusetts DCR
Length	4.3 mi (6.9 km)
Coordinates	42°22′22″N 71°7′45″W / 42.37278°N 71.12917°W
West end	US 20 in Brighton
Major; junctions	I-90 / Mass Pike in Allston
East end	Storrow Drive in Fenway–Kenmore

Soldiers Field Road is a major crosstown parkway in Boston, Massachusetts, running west to east from U.S. Route 20 in the northwest corner of Brighton to the Boston University Bridge.^[1] It follows the course of the Charles River and also passes by the campuses of Harvard University and Boston University. The road is named for the area south of the road on a bend in the Charles River. On June 5, 1890, Henry Lee Higginson presented Harvard College a gift of 31 acres (130,000 m2) of land, which he called Soldiers Field, given in honor of his friends who died in the Civil War: James Savage, Jr., Charles Russell Lowell, Edward Barry Dalton, Stephen George Perkins, James Jackson Lowell, and Robert Gould Shaw. This land later became the home of Harvard Crimson athletics.

Although considered a "major crosstown street", the road has a 10-foot (3.04 m) height restriction due to viaduct crossings. In 2013 one of these crossings was the site of a serious bus crash.^[3] Speed limits range from 30 to 40 miles per hour (48 to 64 km/h) on various segments of the road.

Route description[edit]

Soldiers Field Road is one link in a nearly nine-mile continuous roadway along the southern bank of the Charles River, continuing to the east as Storrow Drive, David G. Mugar Way, and Embankment Road, and to the west as Nonantum Road.

The road begins at the intersection with North Beacon Street and Nonantum Road. For the first 0.4 miles (0.64 km) there is no median division, and there is at-grade access to local businesses. The road then passes under the Arsenal Street Bridge access roads. The road then passes south of the Northeastern University Boathouse and Charles River Community Garden, which it provides access to on the westbound side of the road. One half-mile east of the Arsenal Street Bridge there is a footbridge crossing over the road between Telford Street and the Artesani Playground, which is part of Christian Herter Park. There is access to and from the park at an at-grade intersection with Everett Street. As the road turns north it passes the WBZ headquarters and Smith Playground before following the perimeter of the Soldiers Field athletic facility, home to Harvard Athletics. The closest portions of the facility to the road are the field hockey field, tennis courts and practice fields. At the top of the bend in the Charles River the road intersects with the Eliot Bridge, which heads west from the northern end of the bend, providing access to Greenough Boulevard, Mount Auburn Hospital and Mount Auburn Cemetery in neighboring Cambridge. As the road and the Charles bends southward, it passes Jordan Field (the soccer field), the Palmer Dixon Center, Dillon Field House, Lavietes Pavilion and Blodgett Pool to the southwest and the Newell Boathouse to the northeast of the road.

Soldiers Field Road then passes under North Harvard Street as it joins Anderson Memorial Bridge. It continues eastward past the Harvard Business School campus, where the river makes another bend at the Weeks Footbridge. The road then passes under the approach to the Western Avenue Bridge, where traffic passes one way from Cambridge into the Allston neighborhood. Just 300 yards (0.17 mi) later, the road passes under the approach road between Cambridge Street and the River Street Bridge, which returns traffic from Allston to Cambridge. To the south of this bridge the road passes to the north and east of rail yards before paralleling the Massachusetts Turnpike from just east of the Allston tollbooths and past Boston University until just west of the Grand Junction Railroad Bridge. At this point the road and river split from the Mass Pike and pass under the Boston University Bridge, at which point Soldiers Field Road becomes Storrow Drive.

History[edit]

Portions of the current alignment of Soldiers Field Road were originally part of the Charles River Speedway, which was built in 1899. The speedway ran from near Market Street and the Arsenal Street bridge, to the site of the Eliot Bridge (which wasn't built until 1950).^[4] The only surviving building relating to the speedway is the Charles River Reservation (Speedway)-Upper Basin Headquarters, which formerly housed administrative and logistical personnel for the Metropolitan District Commission.

The portion of Soldiers Field Road nearest the Boston University Bridge is expected to be rebuilt as part of a major project to straighten the Turnpike.

Major intersections[edit]

The entire route is in Boston, Suffolk County. All exits are unnumbered.

Location	mi^[2]	km	Destinations	Notes
Brighton	0.0	0.0	US 20 (Beacon Street) / Nonantum Road west – Watertown Square, Newton, Brighton Center	Traffic circle
Allston	0.7	1.1	Western Avenue / Arsenal Street – Brighton Center, Watertown	Interchange
	2.0	3.2	Route 2 / US 3 / Fresh Pond Parkway – Arlington	Partial interchange
	2.5	4.0	Harvard Street – Harvard Square, Allston, Cambridge	Interchange
	3.1	5.0	I-90 / Mass Pike / Western Avenue / Cambridge Street – Central Square, Cambridge	Interchange; exit 131 on I-90 / Mass Pike
Fenway–Kenmore	4.1	6.6	University Road – Brookline	Interchange; eastbound exit and entrance
Fenway–Kenmore	4.1	6.6	Storrow Drive east	Continuation beyond University Road
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi Electronic toll collection Incomplete access

References[edit]

^ ^a ^b Office of Geographic and Environmental Information (MassGIS), Commonwealth of Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs – http://www.mass.gov/mgis/dd-over.htm
^ ^a ^b Google (November 23, 2014). "Soldiers Field Road" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved November 23, 2014.
^ "After Harvard Visit, Dozens Injured in Bus Crash". USA Today. February 4, 2013. Retrieved February 4, 2013.
^ "Allston Trotting Parks". Brighton Allston Historical Society. Retrieved November 23, 2014.

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

v t e Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston
Coastal reservations	Belle Isle Marsh Boston Harbor Islands Castle Island Dorchester Shores Fort Revere Lynn Shore Nahant Beach Nantasket Beach Quincy Shore Revere Beach Rumney Marsh Webb Memorial Weymouth Back River
River reservations	Alewife Brook Charles River Chestnut Hill Cutler Elm Bank Hemlock Gorge Mystic River Neponset River Pope John Paul II Squantum Point Park Upper Charles River
Woodland reservations	Beaver Brook Blue Hills Breakheart Hammond Pond Middlesex Fells Quincy Quarries Southwest Corridor Stony Brook Wilson Mountain
Heritage state parks	Lynn Roxbury
Parkways and roads	Alewife Brook Arborway Blue Hills Blue Hills Reservation Charles River Reservation Day Boulevard Fellsway Fellsway East Fellsway West Fenway Fresh Pond Furnace Brook Hamond Pond Hull Shore Drive Jamaicaway Lynn Fells Lynnway Memorial Drive Morrissey Boulevard Mystic Valley Nahant Beach Boulevard Nantasket Avenue Park Drive Quincy Shore Drive Revere Beach Riverway Soldiers Field Road Stony Brook Storrow Drive Truman VFW West Roxbury Winthrop Winthrop Shore Drive
Department of Conservation and Recreation Greater Boston List of Massachusetts State Parks