Above, sign announced a closure of Talbot Avenue in 2022. Reporter file photo
Starting tonight (July 2), several streets near Franklin Park and Franklin Field will be closed overnight on weekends this summer as Boston Police resume traffic restrictions aimed at curbing late-night noise, drag racing, ATV riding, and other quality-of-life issues that have vexed nearby residents in past years.
The closures are scheduled to begin Thursday, July 2, and continue through September, although officials said the end date remains to be determined.
The impacted streets are Circuit Drive, Franklin Park Drive, Old Road, and Talbot Avenue. The streets will be closed from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, according to a notice from Area B-3 police circulated this week and shared with The Reporter.
Police barricades on standby near Old Road, which will be closed to vehicles on weekends starting July 2 through the end of summer. File Reporter photo
The restrictions are similar to traffic controls that have been used in and around Franklin Park since 2020, when pandemic-era late-night gatherings prompted complaints from residents.
In 2022, the Reporter chronicled sharply divided neighborhood reaction to the closures, which some residents described as a needed relief while others said they caused hardship for people trying to get home, use buses, or travel through the area late at night.
State Rep. Russell Holmes, whose district includes parts of the area, defended the closures then as an imperfect but effective response to persistent late-night disturbances. He said the blockades had been used in some form since 2020 after residents in Franklin Field, Olmsted Green, Harvard Commons, and the Talbot-Harvard Triangle sought relief from noise and racing.
“We don’t want to go back to that,” Holmes said at the time.
Zoo New England, which operates Franklin Park Zoo, also credited the closures in 2022 with reducing after-hours noise inside the park, saying the restrictions had helped lessen the impact on animals, neighbors, and park users.
But the same policy has also generated frustration over communication and access. In the Reporter’s 2022 story, several residents said they were surprised by the closures or affected by MBTA reroutes, including one Mattapan resident who said she had to walk home from Forest Hills after midnight when her bus could not follow its usual route.
