The complicated and dangerous arrangement of roadways, railway tracks for electric and steam cars, in combination with a narrow underpass in the High Bridge district illustrates forcibly the costly results of allowing important road junctions to “happen by chance.” It is true that these junctions were created at a time when traffic in this neighborhood was light and when the principles of road junction design were little understood. It is singularly unfortunate that this bad piece of planning should be spread out before the eyes of all visitors approaching Norwood, and at a point where the hazards of travel are at their worst. The Planning Board has made surveys to scale of conditions as they exist near the bridge today, and on the basis of these surveys the Board has prepared a plan which redesigns the present road junctions to secure greater convenience for the operation of vehicles and at the same time to reduce danger to the smallest possible terms. The accompanying plan shows the general out line of these changes, which include the elimination of the oblique approach to the present bridge by preventing vehicular traffic from following the line of the trolley which brings vehicles into a zone of obscuration. The plan also arranges a cross-cut from the bridge to Prospect Street which separates travel in this direction from Washington Street diagonals. The curve at the junction of Washington and Prospect Streets is made more ample for motors proceeding in a southerly direction. Accommodation is also made for the development of the land between Washington Street and Prospect Street by an extension of Fulton Street. This plan can be carried out with relatively small changes in property lines, as it depends largely on the rectification of the lines of traveled way. The photograph above indicates present conditions and shows the steep gradients of Washington Street, which reach a maximum opposite High Bridge where vehicles moving in both directions attempt to secure high speed at a point of unusual danger.
1923 Norwood Planning Board Report
This Day In Norwood History-May 19, 1923-Planning Board Has Done Excellent Work
NORWOOD TOWN NOW BEAUTIFUL NORWOOD, May 19—The marked improvement in the physical appearance of the town of Norwood, since the establishment of a Planning Board, here, as well as the pride and interest which its townspeople have in the civic…
REPORT OF THE PLANNING BOARD TO THE CITIZENS OF THE TOWN 1923
Published and Presented With the Compliments of George F. WillettChairman Town Planning Board1912 – 1923 Report of ARTHUR A. SHURTLEFF, Town Planner SUPPLEMENTARY REPORTS :Zoning, by JOHN P. FOX, ConsultantCivic Center, by HARRY J. CARLSON, ArchitectandLegal Aspects, by FLAVEL SHURTLEFF,…
1923 Planning Board Report-Plan for the Vicinity of Center of the Town
The plan on pages 20 and 21 for the center of Norwood is an integral part of the general plan proposed for the Town as a whole. The development of the center cannot be considered separately from the development of…
1923 Planning Board Report-Streets Near Norwood Railroad Station
In the course of the general program of the state for the abolishment of railway grade crossings, the present dangerous crossing at Railroad Avenue will be abolished. This work should be undertaken, however, not only with an eye to the…
1923 Planning Board Report-Proposed Additional East-West Through Streets and Diagonals
In the wide interspaces between the existing east-west thoroughfares there are many local streets already built, and many more contemplated or actually under construction. Gradually, in a long term of years, all these wild lands will be traversed by roads…
1923 Planning Board Report-Existing North-South Through Streets
The existing through streets of Norwood, as shown above, were laid out in times before the construction of the steam railroads, before the large industries were established, and, of course, long before the development of modern housing and the beginnings…
1923 Planning Board Report-Proposed Additional North-South Through Streets and Diagonals
In the outlying districts of the Town where new houses and new streets are springing up, the individual land owners have used and are still using customary skill and foresight in the planning of individual lots to meet the desires…
1923 Planning Board Report-Development of Clark Swamp District
The built-up area of Norwood is gradually approaching the margins of the Clark Swamp district. Under good or bad planning this entire neighborhood is destined to be crossed by streets and built up with dwellings. The cost of this work…
This Day in Norwood History-January 22, 1948-Norwood 25 Years Ahead Of Dedham In Master Planning
But Many Phases Of Shurcliff Report Never Carried Out Here The neighboring town of Dedham has received the spotlight of publicity since the appearance, four weeks ago, of an Attractive 100-page booklet, profusely illustrated with diagrams, maps, statistical charts, and…
1923 Planning Board Report-Schools, Parks and Playgrounds
On the accompanying map are shown the public schools of Norwood. They are grouped most closely near the center of the Town with scattered buildings on the outskirts. Evidently school locations will follow the centers of new growth, but the…
The Old Congregational Church stood on the corner of Winter and Walpole Streets. You can see the Morrill Memorial Library to the rear. A medical building sits on the site…
Brown Raps Absence Of Cooperation SPEAKS FOR ITSELF—Nichols street awaits completion of heavy construction work in Westover before the Town will resurface. The auto at the center is parked on…
Norwood Man Candidate as Democrat GEORGE F. WILLETT George F. Willett of Norwood, ex-millionaire manufacturer and member of the firm of Willett, Sears, today took out papers as a candidate…
Norwood Arena Norwood fights plan for housing complex at arena site The sound of cheering fans at Norwood Arena has given away to a new type of roar from townspeople…