![]() Soldiers Field Road highlighted in red | |
Maintained by | Massachusetts DCR |
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Length | 4.3 mi (6.9 km)[1][2] |
Coordinates | 42°22′22″N 71°7′45″W / 42.37278°N 71.12917°W |
West end | ![]() |
Major junctions | ![]() |
East end | Storrow Drive in Fenway–Kenmore |
Soldiers Field Road is a major crosstown parkway in Boston, Massachusetts, running west to east from U.S. Route 20 in the northwest corner of Brighton to the Boston University Bridge.[1] It follows the course of the Charles River and also passes by the campuses of Harvard University and Boston University. The road is named for the area south of the road on a bend in the Charles River. On June 5, 1890, Henry Lee Higginson presented Harvard College a gift of 31 acres (130,000 m2) of land, which he called Soldiers Field, given in honor of his friends who died in the Civil War: James Savage, Jr., Charles Russell Lowell, Edward Barry Dalton, Stephen George Perkins, James Jackson Lowell, and Robert Gould Shaw. This land later became the home of Harvard Crimson athletics.
Although considered a "major crosstown street", the road has a 10-foot (3.04 m) height restriction due to viaduct crossings. In 2013 one of these crossings was the site of a serious bus crash.[3] Speed limits range from 30 to 40 miles per hour (48 to 64 km/h) on various segments of the road.