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Historic Parkways Preservation Treatment Guidelines
Massachusetts has the distinction of being the first state with an entire network of parkways. With the publication of these Historic Parkways Treatment Guidelines, the Commonwealth also has the first comprehensive planning and management guide for such a system. It is with great pleasure that the Department of Conservation and Recreation presents the Guidelines, a culmination of five years of research, documentation, planning, and project implementation aimed at establishing a program for the stewardship of historic parkways across the Commonwealth.
 Massachusetts parkways are closely tied to some of the great urban and recreational reform movements of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries - and are a key feature of a green metropolitan Boston in the twenty-first century. From the grand urban boulevards of greater Boston to the sedate summit roads of western Massachusetts, we are fortunate to possess a network of parkways that continue to function as scenic routes for the walking, bicycling and driving public over 100 years after their conception. At the same time, many of these historic parkways have deteriorated due to dramatic growth in automobile traffic, inadequate maintenance, and insensitive alterations. Widening, straightening, tree removal, and lack of regard for pedestrian and bicyclist safety have taken their toll.
With the Historic Parkways Treatment Guidelines, the Commonwealth has comprehensive design and management guidance tailored to its parkways. But the care and improvement of the parkways only begins here. We must use this document to protect the historic features of the parkways and to make all the parkways as useful and enjoyable as they can be for people visiting our parks or traveling by foot, bicycle or car. DCR looks forward to tackling this challenge in partnership with legislators, local officials, other state agencies, and concerned citizens, organizations and businesses.
Chapter 1 Introduction
1.1 Guiding Principles
1.2 Parkway Definition and Types
Chapter 2 Parkway Planning and Project Development
2.1 Project Thresholds
2.2 Project Initiation
2.2.1 Need Assessment
2.2.2 Project Management
2.2.3 General Treatment Considerations—Preparing the Consultant Scope
2.2.4 Composition of the Design Team
2.2.5 Regulatory Strategy
2.2.6 Public Participation Plan
2.2.7 Mapping and Data Standards
2.2.8 Procurement of Consultant Services
2.3 Design Control Report
2.3.1 Developing the Design Control Report
2.3.2 Parkway Context
2.3.3 Parkway Users
2.3.4 Transportation Demand
2.3.5 Measures of Effectiveness
2.3.6 Sight Distance
2.4 Determination of Treatment
2.5 Project Design
2.5.1 Schematic Design
2.5.2 Design Development
2.5.3 Final Design
2.6 Maintenance and Operation Planning
Chapter 3 Guidelines
3.1 Alignment
3.2 Cross Section Elements
3.2.1 Vistas from the Travelway
3.2.2 Interface of the Travelway and Landscape Grading
3.2.3 Sidewalks and Pathways
3.2.4 Shoulders
3.2.5 Lane Number and Width
3.2.6 Pavement Markings
3.2.7 Travelway Surface
3.2.8 Medians
3.2.9 Vegetation
3.2.10 Curbs
3.2.11 Clear Zone
3.2.12 Traffic Barriers
3.2.13 Walls
3.2.14 Utilities
3.2.15 Signage
3.2.16 Lighting
3.3 Major Structures
3.3.1 Bridges
3.4 Intersections and Curb Cuts
3.4.1 Interface with Municipal Roads
3.4.2 Traffic Signals
3.4.3 Rotaries and Roundabouts
3.4.4 Interface with Public Recreational Facilities
3.4.5 Curb Cuts
3.5 Stormwater Management/Drainage
3.5.1 Roadway Drainage
3.5.2 Stormwater Best Management Practices
3.5.3 Culverts and Swales
Chapter 4 Maintenance
4.1 Parkway Travelways
4.1.1 Pavement or Travelway Surface
4.1.2 Shoulders
4.1.3 Parking Areas
4.1.4 Pavement Markings
4.1.5 Landscape Grading, Slopes and Ledge Outcrops
4.1.6 Sidewalks and Pathways
4.1.7 Retaining Walls
4.2 Parkway Control of Vegetation
4.2.1 Tree Care
4.2.2 Shrub Care
4.2.3 Grass Care
4.2.4 Vistas and Overlooks
4.2.5 Trailheads and Crossings
4.2.6 Invasive Vegetation Control
4.3 Parkway Site Elements
4.3.1 Traffic Barriers and guardrails
4.3.2 Gates, Fencing, Railings
4.3.3 Signs
4.3.4 Trailheads and Trail Crossings
4.3.5 Benches, Picnic Tables and other Site Furniture
4.3.6 Trash Receptacl
4.4 Parkway Utilities
4.4.1 Utilities
4.4.2 Traffic Signals
4.4.3 Lighting
4.5 Parkway Drainage Utilities
4.5.1 Drop Inlets, Catch Basins and Stone Ladders
4.5.2 Paved Waterways or Swales
4.5.3 Vegetated Waterways or Swales
4.5.4 Headwalls
Maintenance Schedule for Historic Parkways Matrix
Bibliography
Appendices
Appendix A: Parkway History
Appendix B: Managing Historic Parkways—Understanding the Threats and Issues
Appendix C: Historic Parkways Initiative
Appendix D: National Register Nomination and Metro-Boston Historic Parkways Matrix
Appendix E: Public Participation Summary
Appendix F: Table of Cross Reference with Federal Highway Administration Flexibility in Highway Design (1997) and MassHighway Project Development and Design Guide (2006)
Appendix G: List of Common Regulatory Thresholds
Appendix H: Standards for Preservation and Rehabilitation
Appendix I: Massachusetts Prohibited Plant List
Appendix J: HPI Sample Project Scope of Work
Appendix K: Glossary
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