Southwest Corridor Park Dashboard [Draft]
About the Dashboard
The Southwest Corridor Park serves as the backyard, garden, walking/biking route, playground and neighborhood gathering spot for thousands of Boston residents, commuters and visitors. Through this dashboard, PMAC is creating a channel of communication to help neighbors, volunteers and park staff to work together on issues large and small.
][1.] Click GO TO on the left to share your observations, comments and concerns.
[2.] Click on any topic in the chart on the right to read comments, concerns, updates and milestones.
Dashboard Assessment
Neighborhood representatives, park volunteers, community gardeners and others are invited to share insights though the dashboard assessment.
Summary - Winter 2020-2021
| Topic | Average Rating (1=No Concerns through 4=Major Concerns) | Trend in the past 3 months?  = Getting Worse  = No Change  = Improving | Playgrounds and Spray Decks | 1.5 |  | | Sports Facilities (fields, basketball, tennis, etc.) | 1.5 | | | Lighting | 2.7 |  | | Landscaping Elements (fences, stonework, benches, path surfaces) | 2.2 |  | | Landscaping / Greenspace / Park Gardens | 1.55 | | | Community Gardens | 1.7 | | | Safety and ease of bike/walking path road crossings | 2 | | | Courtesy and civility on bike/walking paths | 2.4 |  | | Signage and path markings | 2.11 | | | Climate of community health and public safety | 2.3 | | | Overall assessment: It appears that many people are using the park every day | 1.3 |  | | Overall assessment: It appears that park visitors get a positive impression of the city and neighborhood because of this park | 1.3 | | |
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Milestones/Updates
View updates about park projects, both large and small, showing both small steps and major outcomes of the work of DCR staff and volunteers.
- 2/28/2021: The skateboard project at Stony Brook is scheduled to start construction this spring. Watch for updates here, as well as on the project signage and on the DCR website.
- 1/6/2021: At the January 5, 2021 PMAC meeting, DCR staff reported that the lighting replacement and refurbishment is continuing. (1.) As of now, most fixtures have been fixed but 150 light fixtures are still out, and will be refurbished rather than replaced, a slow process. (2.) The next section to be addressed will be at Jackson Square because the COVID testing site there overflows onto the paths at night, and the path is poorly lit. (3.) The issue began when all of the lights failed this summer due to a manufacturing defect. The lights, installed a few years ago, were under warranty, and so replacement parts, and now refurbished lights, are being shipped in batches from the manufacturer. Supply, shipping and COVID-related delays have made this a slow process. (4.) It is a normal part of the process that lights are on during the daytime during this repair phase. (5.) Missing light fixtures are those that have been sent to the manufacturer to be refurbished.
- 1/4/2021: The new Burnett Garden/Park. This is the culmination of a 10 year effort by the SNA to build a park, garden, and SWCP connector by committing funds from a large development to a community benefit.
On the right is Burnett Street. To the left is the vacant land where we hope to build an extension to the SWCP. You can see that the developer put in a bike path from Burnett St and sloped the land up to the connection point as well. This allows the two grades to meet. Straight ahead is the Extra Space storage facility that is one building of the three that would finance much of the park. And the picture is taken from a deck of 45 Burnett, the new condo development. You can see the top of English HS over the storage facility roof.
Transportation
The Southwest Corridor Park was one of the first linear parks in the U.S., and was the pioneer in the use federal highway money to create environmentally friendly mass transit and bicycle transportation. Now years later, how many people travel via the eight MBTA orange line stations each day or the many connecting bus routes? How many bicycles, skateboards, runners/joggers, wheelchairs, strollers and other wheels travel past your spot in the park each day?How many people use the eleven BlueBikes stations along the corridor?
Stewardship & Gardening
What are the stories behind the trees, shrubs, flower and vegetables gardens we enjoy along the corridor?
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Community Development
The corridor is an area of major ongoing development, with many important conversations taking place. See the BPDA map and learn about how park volunteers represent the park and neighborhoods on key committees.
