OWNERSHIP
CONDITIONS
CONTEXT
HISTORY
ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
DESIGN ISSUES
PLANNING PROCESSES

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OWNERSHIP:
According to Andrea d'Amato, Commissioner of the Boston Transportation Department, the ownership of American Legion Highway has not been fully resolved between State and City agencies. The State requires that American Legion be considered a highway if State funds are to pay for its resurfacing. The City would like to make American Legion into a greenway, but does not have the money to resurface it or to fund the greening of it. In 2002, the State is funding improvements to the road, but the process is being managed by the City. The City Parks Department cleans and maintains the American Legion Highway, and many City officials consider the highway to be City property.

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CONDITIONS:
American Legion Highway is a four-lane thoroughfare with a tree-covered, grassy median that runs southwest through a residential area, several parklands and cemeteries, and a commercial area. In recent years, American Legion Highway has also been characterized by illegal dumping, large, unsightly gaps in fencing, rusty, broken fencing, and a trashy, contaminated brook. According to local residents, this character is due in part to the long-term abandonment of the Boston State Hospital site and the residual perception of the Highway as a "no-mans- land," despite incremental improvements, vigilant trash collection by the City, the replacement of fencing by the Massachusetts Audubon Society, and highway improvements (see PLANNING PROCESSES and DESIGN ISSUES below).

In January 2005, NSTAR Electric and Gas Corp. gained support from the State for a new underground power line that will extend from Stoughton to Boston, including a stretch along the American Legion Highway. NSTAR announced its plans to renovate the American Legion Highway by adding trees to the median strip, upgrading traffic signals, repaving the roads, and possibly creating a bicycle path (Peter J. Howe, "Let's Make a Deal," The Boston Globe, January 14, 2005).

Description of Highway from Northeast to Southwest:
The northeastern endpoint of American Legion Highway is at the intersection with Blue Hill Avenue at the eastern corner of Franklin Park. The Highway defines the southwestern edge of Franklin Park across from a high density residential area and Lena Park Community Development Corporation. South of Lena Park, the highway has open land on either side -- the Boston State Hospital site to the east and Franklin Park, the Canterbury Urban Wild, and St. Michaels Cemetery to the west. The generally "green" character of the road abruptly changes south of the Boston State Hospital site, where American Legion Highway cuts through a strip-mall commercial area.

The length of American Legion Highway has a grassy, if often unkempt, median with trees and grass on either side. Thus, the highway has the potential to be similar to MDC parkways such as the Arborway, although in 2002 the green elements are largely unkempt and overgrown.

Traffic and buses:
According to Mass Highway, the average daily traffic on American Legion Highway measured at the intersection with Morton Street was 22,000 vehicles in 1992 and 26,800 vehicles in 1998. American Legion Highway is served by the #14 MBTA Bus.

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CONTEXT:
American Legion Highway connects Franklin Park with the Boston Nature Center. Because it is a fast-moving four-lane highway it can hinder usage of Franklin Park in the Franklin Hill neighborhood for those who fear to cross the busy street. As the Boston State Hospital site becomes more completely redeveloped, American Legion Highway will become an increasingly important connector for residents and employees.

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HISTORY:
American Legion Highway was originally called Canterbury Street. It was not a major road at the time that landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted chose to make the road one of the boundaries of Franklin Park. American Legion Highway was built in 1931 as an early public works project designed to lift the nation out of the Great Depression. Originally designed as a parkway, Boston replaced Canterbury Street with a highway capable of expanding the city beyond the Blue Hill Avenue corridor.

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ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES:
Canterbury Brook:
The Canterbury Brook runs above ground through the commercial section of American Legion Highway, and then passes underneath Walk Hill Street to reemerge in St. Michaels Cemetery. The Brook then flows underneath American Legion Highway from the Canterbury Urban Wild into the Western Campus of the Boston State Hospital site. The Brook is contaminated and has flooding problems that affect the Highway. Run-off from the street flows into the brook, contributing non-point source pollution.

Dying oak trees:
Hundred-year-old oak trees line the section of American Legion Highway near Blue Hill Avenue along the edge of Franklin Park. Like the old oaks that line the Arborway, these trees are not only coming to the end of their lifetimes, they have also been severely damaged by oncoming traffic over the years. There are scars and missing chunks of tree on the majority of oaks along this section of the Arborway, each of which corresponds to the direction of traffic, a clear indication that the trees have been hit by cars.

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DESIGN ISSUES:
Re-fencing:
The Massachusetts Audubon Society, through the Boston Nature Center, is investing in improvements along the edge of the Highway by replacing old, broken down fencing with new wrought iron fencing. According to Sanctuary Director Julie Brandlin, Mass Audubon's funding as of winter 2002 would not cover the re-fencing of the entire perimeter, but Mass Audubon hopes to secure the funding needed to complete the job.

Bridge reconstruction:
MassHighway works cooperatively with the state's thirteen Metropolitan Planning Organizations to develop lists of regional priority projects known as TIPs. The first TIP-funded effort on American Legion Highway was for bridge reconstruction/ rehabilitation where American Legion Highway goes over Morton Street. The TIP cost for this project was more than $1.3 million, the review date for the project was December 12, 2001, and the TIP year was 2001. More TIP-funded projects are planned for American Legion Highway (see PLANNING PROCESSES below).

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PLANNING PROCESSES:
The state planning process for American Legion Highway was also TIP funded and was at 25% design by mid-2002. The planning process was for highway reconstruction with no added capacity. The review date for this project was October, 15, 2002, the TIP year was 2003, and the TIP cost for the project is $7 million. Justine Liff, Commissioner of the Boston Department of Parks and Recreation, ran a meeting to gather input about the reconstruction from local stakeholders. The repaving of American Legion Highway has been the source of some confusion among State and City agencies because of the Highway's ambiguous tenure (see OWNERSHIP).

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