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> It was in this context that the city decided to demolish the neighborhood known as Scollay Square and build in its place what would come to be called Government Center.

It’s interesting (and sad) to imagine what Boston could have been like without the damage of urban renewal. These neighborhoods could have easily become the quaint North Ends people love today.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_End,_Boston

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scollay_Square

It’s also eye opening to realize the extent of their plans that didn’t get done:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_695_(Massachusett...

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People who opposed demolishing the neighborhoods would be called NIMBYs today and would be blamed for the housing crisis. I'm not saying this to be snarky, just that there is a real push and pull there that I don't think is appreciated. There are some beautiful old neighborhoods near me which are at risk of being torn down and replaced with multi-unit dwellings. The residents say 'save our neighborhoods' and the activists cry 'greedy homeowners' and in the meantime the developers are rubbing their hands in anticipation of mountains of cash.

That particular urban renewal didn't create a lot of new housing. On the other hand, that whole general area of Boston was pretty crappy back in the day. (Not just what's now Government Center but all along Washington Street.) It mostly didn't result in more housing; I'm guessing less. But burying the central artery was almost certainly a lot more positive overall.

According to the West End Museum site, the project created more housing units, but also led to a population decrease, most likely due to the decrease in the number of people living in each unit.

This document is a fascinating read: https://archive.org/details/westendprojectre00bost/page/n79/...

Comparing what they proposed vs what resulted is very interesting.

Thanks. I can believe that easily. I assume a lot of what, if not exactly tenement housing at least adjacent, was torn down while generally high-end often waterfront condos were built.

Some of parcels in the doc on page 58 (K) in particular are interesting. The city ended up widening the road there pretty significantly. When they built https://maps.app.goo.gl/7yVzp4vm72Js3w618 back in '22, there was just one tower. The original plan had two towers instead of one (https://bpda.app.box.com/s/lsw68tzgu4g788h9dr4zvorlc6ohy0oy). The resulting sub area is only two buildings now, where there were tenements before.

Oh please. Take a look at the pictures of “redevelopment” back then and tell me it mirrors modern practices. We’re talking wholesale bulldozing of entire neighborhoods. Not a block or two, the entire damned thing.

Why would people be called NIMBYs today for being against replacing a heavily residential neighborhood with a bunch of government buildings? It would be different if the discussion was about keeping the neighborhood residential and just making it more dense in terms of housing.

There's a WGBH podcast about the Big Dig and the first episode I think helps you appreciate why some of the interstate connections and routings around Boston are so weird. https://www.wgbh.org/podcasts/the-big-dig

I'll never forget my first bus ride in Boston: going through a tunnel that suddenly narrowed by 1 lane deep underground, driving 2km past our next stop to reach a u-turn to the other side of the highway.. It has the craziest road infrastructure I have ever seen.

Although Boston driving can still be a bit crazy in areas you're not accustomed to, the combination of the Big Dig and GPS has taken some of the rougher edges off, especially for the main highways and getting to and from the airport.

> It was in this context that the city decided to demolish the neighborhood known as Scollay Square

Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock) grew up in that neighborhood

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