Imagining A New Vision For The Charles River Esplanade

By Anthony Brooks
Feb 9, 2012, 3:50 PM
7 Comments

An effort is underway in Boston to redesign, and in many ways reclaim, one of the city’s great parks: The Charles River Esplanade.

On Thursday at the Boston Public Library, The Esplanade Association, a local non-profit group, is unveiling a plan to redesign the Esplanade. It’s called “Esplanade 2020, A vision for the future.”

At the center of this plan is a big idea about what to do with Storrow Drive. Because as many locals know quite well, Storrow Drive sort of dominates the Esplanade — and cuts it off from the rest of city.

It’s a big plan, and keep in mind that it’s just a proposal, but it’s full of interesting ideas, and was two years in the making. I talked about it a little earlier with Boston architect John Shields of the Esplanade Association who described to Radio Boston the BIG vision of the plan.

Guest:

John Shields, architect and president, Shields Design.

Gcarlson77

I love the Esplanade, and I run, bike, play softball, and attend concerts there. But I do not think that it is so difficult to access or so cut off from the city that storrow drive should be slowed or millions of dollars should be spent on making it better! There are a hundred different ways that money could be better utilized. PS: that 400 foot ferris wheel is a particularly ludicrous idea considering our current economic climate, even if construction is slated for 2020.
Jim M

I’ll be the first to say that the current upkeep of the Esplanade is sub-par, but I really hate most of what I heard in this interview and I dearly hope it doesn’t come to pass. The first ten years or so that I lived in Boston I lived in or near the Back Bay and I regarded the Esplanade as my backyard. I walked, rode my bicycle, lied in the sun(pre Canadian Geese era), just sat and caught up on my reading or people watching, went to concerts, went sailing a couple of times – in fact the majority of my leisure time was spent there. I loved the park and one of the things I loved about it was the feeling of separation from the city you get when you go there. In a way, Storrow Drive keeps the city out. You cross that road and you are someplace else. I like the lazy, relaxed feel to the place. Even on a summer week-end when it can get quite crowded there is a feeling of being someplace else. I don’t want things like a ferris wheel in my park. It will completely ruin the atmosphere of relaxed recreation that has always existed there.

Improve the Esplanade with better maintenance. All of these grand plans don’t mean a thing if maintenance isn’t perpetually reliable. I don’t know if there is anything that can be done about those !#@?! geese. They have ruined nearly every grassy recreation area I know of. Improve the overpasses and make them wheelchair compliant. But leave the essential nature of the place alone.

And complain about Storrow Drive all you want, but getting around the Boston area without it would be a nightmare and not just for drivers. If those cars weren’t on Storrow Drive they would be on the local streets and that’s not to anyone’s interest.
Sunny

I would urge everyone to consider a bigger approach, designed for the 21st C. Make Storrow Drive an underground road from the Kenmore exit to Leverett Circle and make the above ground area all green space. This would transform the city along its river bank. The “Little Dig” is very doable from an engineering standpoint. Forget the window dressing of a Ferris Wheel.
Jasoturner

Take this money and put it into renovating public schools. The era of opulence should be over for public works like this.

Jim M

Although I don’t like any of these plans for the Esplanade I also oppose the attitude that parks are unimportant. Maintaining parks and recreation areas has nothing to do with opulence. It is not an either/or situation. The environment surrounding the schools is as important as the schools themselves. Perhaps it is just about quality of life, but really why do we live if it isn’t for quality of life?

Jasoturner

Actually, my attitude is that we ALREADY have a usable Esplanade and that spending money to make it fancier is not a good way to spend precious dollars. I do NOT hold the attitude that parks and other public spaces are unimportant. Quite the contrary.

Jim M

That’s good to hear. I hope you can see why I misinterpreted your original comment.

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Imagining A New Vision For The Charles River Esplanade