Southwest Corridor Park Action Plan

A community-driven vision for the future of the Southwest Corridor Park

The Southwest Corridor Park (SWCP) is a roughly 4-mile corridor running from Back Bay Station to Forest Hills Station through several Boston neighborhoods including Back Bay, South End, Roxbury, Fenway, Mission Hill, and Jamaica Plain. A landscape adjacent to and over the MBTA’s Orange Line, the 52-acre park is both a greenway facilitating access to eight transit stations and an important recreational facility with community gardens, basketball and tennis courts, a skate park, and playgrounds.

Opened 1987-1990, the SWCP enjoys an iconic status because of the number of neighborhoods and residents it serves, the diversity of uses, and, especially, its emergence from the citizen activism that stopped a highway project and envisioned an award-winning transit and park system in its place.

After more than 30 years, however, the park is due for renewed attention and investment. DCR envisions a comprehensive and inclusive master planning process leading to a vision for both short- and long-term investments that renovate and modernize the park while strengthening and supporting the communities it serves.

Interactive Storymap

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Project Goals

The initial goals for the Project include:

• Create a vision for the future of the SWCP and the roadmap to implement it, including identifying the appropriate level of resources for DCR Operations and external partners to maintain the park at an optimal level.
• Celebrate the history of the SWCP as a model of responding to and incorporating community voices through active community engagement.
• Incorporate equity and climate change considerations to ensure that the SWCP serves the diverse populations that use it for generations to come.
• Create a safe, welcoming, and accessible path system for all ages and all abilities and enhance connections to surrounding neighborhoods.
• Create a corridor-wide design identify that provides a cohesive and unified visitor experience.

Project Milestones (Dates are approximate and subject to change)

The SWCP includes a wide range of stakeholders including government, institutional, community, nonprofit, and resident. We seek to engage meaningfully with these stakeholder groups while running a streamlined planning process that yields actionable recommendations.

The public process will be organized around formal public meetings but will include engagement strategies such as in-person and online surveys, focus groups, and participation in events and activities along the corridor.

Public Meeting #1: July 26, 2023 // Plan kick-off and listening session

Public Meeting #2: February 28th, 2024 // Development of initial master plan

Public Meeting #3: Winter 2024 // Finalization of master plan

Public Meeting #4: Spring 2024 // Implementation strategy and early action projects