Decades of advocacy, land-takings, policy-making and tens of millions of taxpayer dollars have created the 8.2-mile Neponset Greenway as we know it today. Here’s a brief look back at key milestones.
1991
The Neponset River Greenway Council is formed by the non-profit group Boston Natural Areas Network to advocate for the creation of a greenway system along the river in Boston and Milton, much of routed along a former commercial rail right-of-way that ran parallel to the Mattapan hi-speed trolley and was fenced off for decades.
May 1, 2001
The 72-acre Pope John Paul II Park opens in Neponset. The park (shown above under construction) is built on the site of a former landfill and drive-in movie theater and includes a 1.5 mile looped trail which constitutes the first usable section of the Greenway. Construction on other elements of “phase one” of the Greenway begins in September 2001.
A view of the Neponset Greenway shows the path before the construction of Neponset II park on Granite Avenue. Reporter file photo
January 2002
A 3.5-mile segment of the Greenway along the former railway opens to the public between Port Norfolk and Central Avenue in Milton. A key element for safety, a signalized pedestrian crossing at Granite Avenue, opened in 2006.
2008
Gov. Deval Patrick announced that a new section of Greenway trail will be created between Mattapan Square and Paul’s Bridge, dubbing it the “Neponset River Esplanade. This segment opens for public use in 2012.
May 2017
A 15-acre waterfront park opens in Port Norfolk on what was— for decades— an abandoned paper mill site. The park, named for the late state Sen. Joseph Finnegan and his family, includes a 0.5-mile segment of the Greenway with a route to nearby Pope Park.
June 2017
After several years of planning and some pushback from neighbors in Milton, a new 1.5-mile “missing link” of the Greenway opens to the public. The section includes the Harvest River Bridge that allows passage over the river between Milton and Mattapan’s Ryan Playground. It also includes a boardwalk that spans the river and trolley tracks near Mattapan Square. More on the construction efforts here.
July 2025
The latest section of the Greenway, a .07-mile connection between Tenean Beach and Morrissey Boulevard, opened to the public on July 3.
–BILL FORRY
