The Improvement of Springfield , Mass. 
Next in importance to 
the city’s acquirement of 
Hampden Park comes the 
proper connecting of these 
favored spots. If the rail¬ 
way tracks could be re¬ 
placed by a boulevard the 
problem w r ould be solved. 
This is a big IF, but not 
an absolute impossibility. 
Railways are not accus¬ 
tomed to let go where once 
they have taken hold, but 
there is large-minded man¬ 
agement back of the New 7 
H aven system. 'The road 
needs greater facilities forits 
freight business—will need 
more and more. There is no room for ex¬ 
pansion on the city side of the river, plenty 
of room on the other. There are awkward 
curves and grades as well as grade crossings 
in the present approach to the city. A new 
bridge at Warehouse Point, where now the 
New Haven Road crosses the river, will 
soon be a necessity. It is not inconceivable 
that the New Haven Railroad should find it 
advantageous to move its tracks to the west 
side of the river and cross on the new bridge 
which the Boston and Albany must build in 
readjusting its road to new requirements. 
It needs but little imagination to grow 
enthusiastic over what would follow;—the 
transformation of the most unsightly section 
THE BOAT LANDINGS AND THE OLD BRIDGE 
of the city into the most sightly;—to picture 
the difference in the city’s life, the relief 
where relief is most needed, the turning from 
better to best what otherw'ise is going from 
worse to worst; the reclaiming of the city’s 
most glorious birthright, the naturally lovely 
river front. Other cities may have pleasant 
lawns and tree-shaded streets : few could 
have such beauty as this would be. The 
city would benefit not only through its 
increased attractiveness to citizen and so¬ 
journer, but through the increased value of a 
depreciated section, and especially through 
an improved general health and moral tone. 
But what if the big IF prove an insur¬ 
mountable obstacle; what if the railway 
tracks cannot be moved? 
There remains the alterna¬ 
tive to develop and trans¬ 
form Water Street, a way 
r u n n i n g approximately 
parallel with Main Street 
between it and the river. 
This street would have to 
be extended northward and 
southward to complete the 
connectionsbetween Forest 
Park and Court Square 
and Hampden Park. A 
beginning has been made 
southward toward Forest 
Park. Northward it is 
intercepted by the railway 
tracks; but with the raising 
of these, as already or- 
A FOREST PARK ROAD 
280 
