Neptune Road
{{short description|Road in Boston, Massachusetts}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox street
| name = Neptune Road
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| image = Neptune Road from Lovell Street, February 2016.JPG
| caption = The remaining stub of Neptune Road viewed from Lovell Street in February 2016
| postal_code = 02128
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| location = East Boston, Massachusetts
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| coordinates = {{coord|42|22|43|N|71|0|24|W}}
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Neptune Road is located in the East Boston neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts.[http://www.cityofboston.gov/publicworks/streetbook/ "City of Boston Street Book"], City of Boston The road is fragmented, bisected by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's Blue Line which surfaces from the subway southwest of the road. Much of the portion southeast of the train tracks is encompassed within Logan International Airport.
History
File:NEPTUNE ROAD - NARA - 548477.jpg Neptune Road once was a residential street that also served as the entrance to Frederick Law Olmsted's Wood Island Park, a 47-acre waterfront park designed by Olmsted in the 19th century. An elegant tree-lined road with center islands, The Boston Globe referred to the street as a “miniature Commonwealth Avenue”."Final chapter in the taking of Neptune Road" The Boston Globe, City Weekly section page 1, April 27, 1997.
The expansion of Logan Airport in the late 1960s and early 1970s displaced families along Neptune Road, which is now used for warehouses and rental car property. As the airport expanded, planes flew in low over the residential blocks and conflicts with airport officials escalated. Wood Island Park was leveled early one morning in 1967.{{cite book|title=Jetport: The Boston Airport Controversy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OGyP64Vm7TcC&q=1967+wood+island+park+levelled&pg=PA82|date=1974|author=Dorothy Nelkin|work=Transaction, Inc.| publisher=Transaction Publishers |isbn = 9781412826846}} On April 23, 1969, 35 workmen with 35 chain saws toppled 35 elms along the road. File:Neptune Road, East Boston (53234178604).jpgThe Massachusetts Port Authority, under the reign of then-director and later Governor of Massachusetts Edward J. King, seized by eminent domain some {{convert|720|ft}} of the street, and evicted families with the help of US Marshals.
The airport has since implemented four "airport edge buffers," which include parks and greenery.{{cite web|title=Airport Edge Buffer Project Planned for Neptune Road|url=http://www.massport.com/news-room/News/BufferNeptuneRoad.aspx|date=March 11, 2009|publisher=MassPort|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130728024959/http://www.massport.com/news-room/News/BufferNeptuneRoad.aspx|archivedate = 2013-07-28|url-status=dead}} Some of Boston's last surviving elm trees are still located on Neptune Road, resisting the Dutch elm disease that have felled most of the Boston-area elms in the 20th century.
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See also
References
{{reflist}}
Image gallery
File:Jet over Neptune Road, East Boston, Massachusetts.jpg|An American Airlines DC-10 comes in for landing at Logan International Airport over Neptune Road in East Boston in May, 1973.
File:Blue Line at Neptune Road in 1967.jpg|An outbound Blue Line train (erroneously signed as "Boston") passes Neptune Road in 1967.
File:NEPTUNE ROAD AND FRANKFORT STREET. MBTA (METROPOLITAN BOSTON TRANSIT AUTHORITY) PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE IN BACKGROUND... - NARA - 548478.jpg|Neptune Road and Frankfort Street. (May 1973)
File:ANTHONY BRUNO AFFIXES A PROTEST STICKER TO THE FRONT DOOR OF HIS NEPTUNE ROAD HOUSE WHILE JOSEPH PORZIO LOOKS ON. MR.... - NARA - 549285.jpg|Anthony Bruno affixes a protest sticker to the front door of his Neptune Road House while Joseph Porzio looks on. (May 1973)
File:MBTA (METROPOLITAN BOSTON TRANSIT AUTHORITY) TRACKS CUT ACROSS NEPTUNE ROAD - NARA - 548474.jpg|MBTA tracks cut across Neptune Road. (May 1973)
File:ONCE NEPTUNE ROAD LED TO WOOD ISLAND PARK AND THE SEA. NOW IT IS BOUNDED BY A FENCE AND THE LOGAN AIRPORT RUNWAY AREA - NARA - 548473.jpg|Once Neptune Road led to Wood Island Park and the sea. Now it is bounded by a fence and the Logan Airport runway area. (May 1973)
File:JET ZOOMS OVER SOUTHWESTERN SIDE OF NEPTUNE ROAD - NARA - 548484.jpg|Jet zooms over southwestern side of Neptune Road. (May 1973)
External links
{{commons category|Neptune Road}}
- [http://www.citylab.com/design/2013/05/40-year-old-images-show-east-boston-grappling-expanding-logan-airport/5472/ 40-Year-Old Images Show East Boston Grappling With an Expanding Logan Airport]
- [http://www.unionparkpress.com/ghosts-of-east-boston-past-and-present-wood-island-neptune-road-and-massport/ Ghosts of East Boston past and present]
- [http://www.openmediaboston.org/node/208/ East Boston Neighborhood Close to Destruction After 40 Year Fight]
- [https://bostonlookingbackward.wordpress.com/2010/11/14/the-disappearance-of-neptune-road/ The disappearance of Neptune Road | Looking Backward]
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stzBSU1JuNc The final days of 18 Neptune Rd]
{{Streets and squares in Boston |state=collapsed}}