Community Profiles - City of Boston MA

Description of Boston, Massachusetts Boston is an historic city of contrasts. Ancient red-brick sidewalks twist past handsome Federalist houses on the way to soaring glass towers housing state-of-the-art technology. The sports teams are the best loved and the most hated at one and the same time. Residents are fiercely protective of their neighborhoods and fiercely critical of the MBTA, the government and the weather. In the harbors of Boston lie both the majestic U.S.S. Constitution, still commissioned to fight America's battles, and scores of sleek white fiberglass pleasure boats. There are tiny restaurants tucked into rosy brick town houses on Beacon Hill and huge restaurants on the dizzying tops of skyscrapers in the downtown. Food ranges from the most radical of nouvelle chic to downhome Cajun. Boston is a diverse modern city of neighborhoods. From the North End to Bay Village, Back Bay to the South End, Jamaica Plain to Charlestown, the city shows its diversity of populations, of languages, of foods and philosophies. Immigrants from every corner of the globe have been welcomed by the city and re-shaped into Americans whose memories and customs enrich the community. Boston is a city where politics is everyone's hobby but sports are taken very seriously; where you can hear six different languages in Filene's Basement in one morning; where the world's largest record store and the stately dome of the Mother Church of Christian Science are in the same neighborhood, and where gilded stone lions and a towering 60-story wedge of glass comfortably rub shoulders. Eastern Massachusetts, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean on the east; Cambridge, Somerville, Everett, Chelsea, Watertown, and Revere on the north; Brookline, Newton, and Needham on the west; Dedham on the southwest; and Canton, Milton, and Quincy on the south. Boston is 106 miles south of Portland, Maine; 44 miles northeast of Providence, Rhode Island; 93 miles northeast of Hartford, Connecticut; and 218 miles northeast of New York City. Narrative compiled by the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development

TRANSPORTATION AND ACCESS
Boston is New England's leading port; a regional rail, bus, and truck terminal center; and an important air transport center. Boston is a hub from which many highways extend to serve the city to the north, west and south.

Major Highways Route 128 forms a circumferential highway around Boston. The Central Artery gives access to the downtown area, and the Southeast Expressway extends to the South Shore area. The Massachusetts Turnpike (I-90) crosses Route 128 in Weston and terminates in West Stockbridge, with an extension to the New York Thruway.

Rail Amtrak provides passenger service to New York City and Washington, D.C.. MBTA subway service is available on the Red, Orange, Green and Blue lines. Commuter rail service is available to both North and South Stations. Conrail and the Springfield Terminal Railway (STRR) offer freight service to Boston. Conrail has an intermodal facility in Allston and a Flexi-Flo terminal in Boston. Contact number for Conrail: (617) 783-6222; for STRR, (508) 663-1073.

Bus Boston is a member of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), which provides fixed route service within the city and to surrounding towns. The MBTA also provides THE RIDE, a paratransit service for the elderly and disabled.

Other Logan International Airport, easily accessible from downtown Boston, is the busiest Primary Commercial Service (PR) facility in New England. Also, Hanscom Field in Bedford and Norwood Memorial Airport provide commercial service. The Nashua Street Heliport is located near North Station.