Views from a Platform

One of my favorite views of Boston, Cambridge, and the Charles River is partly of my own making. These are photos from the end of the platform at Charles Street on the Red Line, a rapid transit line in metropolitan Boston.

Back in the early 1980s, I was the project engineer for the project that extended the station platforms. The original station could only handle 4-car trains, and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) wanted to run 6-car trains. The solution was to extend the platforms to and onto the Longfellow Bridges, which carries traffic, pedestrians, bicyclists, and the Red Line over the Charles River to Cambridge.

At the time, the original concept was an open platform, with only a tall picket fence. At one point, some in the MBTA were favoring a canopy over the platform and a wall, but we did not accept that recommendation. The advantage: many wonderful views are available for those waiting for a train. Also, standing out on the end of the platform, it's almost like being in the Esplanade, the parklands along the Charles River.

A young woman waits for her train to Cambridge, late on a summer afternoon in Aug. 2008.  It's a Saturday and I'm headed to Kendall Square to see Woody Allan's Vicky Christina Barcelona.

Above:  The Hancock and Prudential, Boston's two tallest buildings, tower above the trees of the Esplanade.

Sailboats dot the Charles at dusk in August 2012

A blimp floats over the Charles towards Fenway Park, where the Red Sox will be playing on this August evening, 4 years after the picture of the young woman.

Longfellow Bridge

The Longfellow Bridge is perhaps the most distinctive bridge crossing the Charles River between Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts. With its large steel arches and distinctive towers (that give the bridge its nickname “salt and pepper”), it is more massive and rises higher above the water’s surface than its upstream and downstream neighbors. This elevation provides some of the iconic skyline views of Boston.

(The photograph above right is from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s website describing the upcoming repairs to the bridge.)

For me, the 102-year old Longfellow Bridge is my way to work. It’s a “multi-modal” facility as we say in the transportation field. It has 4 lanes for motor vehicles, two tracks of Boston’s Red Line subway (or metro as they call it in some countries), two bike lanes, and two sidewalks. Being a multi-modal transportation engineer, I find myself crossing the bridge almost daily – sometimes driving, most often on the subway train, sometimes riding my bicycle, and occasionally walking. My photographs reflect all four modes.

Below: Riding my bike into work early on Sept. 21, 2010, I caught the towers of Boston's Back Bay bathed in the light of the sunrise. The two tallest buildings are the John Hancock tower (left) and the Prudential tower (right).

Below: Walking over the bridge on a bright and warm New Year's Eve 2010, this view back captures the towers of Boston's financial district behind Beacon Hill, all framed by the Longfellow Bridge's distinctive "salt and pepper" towers).

Below: Stolling over the bridge towards Boston on a picture-perfect July 4, 2010, this view captures recreational boats in the river and another view of Beacon Hill in front of the towers of downtown. Look very close and you can pick out the gold dome of the Massachusetts State House.

Below: A close-up of the ornate detailing of the bridge railings. (Also, Dec. 31, 2010.)

Below: Taken while driving home over the bridge from work, one of the towers is silloeted by the setting sun.

Below: Taken from the train platform of Charles Street station looking west from Boston into Cambridge, this is my all-time favorite photograph of the bridge [and is included in a previous blog post]. The Red Line subway and roadway cross the Charles River. First thing that moved me was the striking lighting effect created by eclipsing the setting sun with a lightpole, bathing the view in a warm yellow light. And the back-lit cloud over the steam power plant across the river. And the peaceful and empty view with only one young woman standing on the platform, no traffic on the bridge --- all in stark contrast to an otherwise bustling Saturday in Boston. It was Aug. 18, 2008, and I was on my way to see the movie Vicky Christina Barcelona in its first week of release.