Fort Point Channel

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Fort Point Channel, as seen from the south end looking north.

Fort Point Channel is a channel (of water) separating South Boston from downtown Boston, Massachusetts, feeding into Boston Harbor. The south part of it has been gradually filled in for use by the South Bay rail yard and several highways (specifically the Central Artery and the Southeast Expressway (Boston)). At its south end, the channel once widened into South Bay (Boston), from which the Roxbury Canal continued southwest where the Massachusetts Avenue Connector is now. The channel is surrounded by the Fort Point neighborhood, which is also named after the same colonial-era fort.

The banks of the channel are still busy with activity. South of Summer Street on the west side of the channel is a large United States Postal Service facility. A large parcel, home to Gilette, lies at the southeast corner of the channel. The back of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston looks over the channel, and another federal building, the John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse, lies on Fan Pier at the mouth of the channel. One of Boston's odder attractions, the Hood Milk Bottle, lies on the banks as well, next to the Boston Children's Museum.

In the 80s The Channel nightclub sat on the Fort Point Channel. It had windows that over looked the Channel and when one looked out of them on a foggy night it appeared as if you were on a boat. It was located off of a short street on the South Boston side of the Channel called Necco Street. This was the good Boston venue to see local and Punk Rock bands.

[edit] Crossings

The following bridges and tunnels cross or used to cross the channel, from north to south, with building/opening dates:

Northern Avenue Bridge
Evelyn Moakley Bridge (New Northern Avenue/Seaport Boulevard)
Silver Line tunnel
Congress Street Bridge 1850
Summer Street Bridge 1899
New York and New England Railroad (gone)
Mount Washington Avenue Bridge (gone)
Fort Point Channel Tunnel (I-90)
Dorchester Avenue Bridge (formerly Federal Street Bridge)
Atlantic Avenue Viaduct (gone)
New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad and the wye connection to the west-facing lines (now used by the MBTA Commuter Rail) and the Red Line tunnel roughly underneath
Broadway Bridge (relocated, new bridge opened January 19, 1999 [1])

The channel now ends here; the remaining bridges cross the South Bay Yard.

West Fourth Street Bridge 1958 (formerly Dover Street, with an older bridge)
South Boston Bypass Road
New York and New England Railroad on a long diagonal bridge, now used by the MBTA Commuter Rail and trains to the South Boston Freight Terminal - this bridge passed under the next two
Southampton Street (formerly Swett Street)
Massachusetts Avenue (formerly East Chester Park)