Newly digitized Massachusetts DCR blueprints of iconic roadways, parks available to access
BOSTON - The roadways, parks, and landmarks that are now part of Massachusetts's identity were once just a paper plan. Now, those plans are being digitized for the public to access for the first time.
Hundreds of years of projects
Archivists at the Department of Conservation and Recreation have spent the last two years compiling and cataloging documents from drawers and filing cabinets.
"There were so many plans scattered throughout the building," archives assistant at Mass DCR Allison Maguire said.
It is a major feat for the group to complete the massive digitized project and bring the plans into the modern computer age.
"We had about 100,000 images that we went through over the course of the past couple of months to make sure that they were up to standard," Mass. DCR employee Madeline Moison said.
Hundreds of years of projects are now available for the architects of today.
"They'll just be able to have a database at their fingertips where they can search information that we're cataloging individually plan by plan," plans archivist at Mass. DCR Sam Sharp said. "It includes things as big as dams and bridges and things as small as that water fountain from your favorite park."
Protecting the past
The project was also prompted by the uptick in remote work throughout the state. But not only architects or government workers can view the blueprints; the general public can request access to plans like a 1970 construction plan for Soldiers Field Road, the home of WBZ-TV.
"Storrow Drive is a big one, you know, any bridge, any Storrowing, we might get some plans requests for those," Sam said.
The digitization project also helps protect the past by limiting the handling of the brittle blueprints that are decades, or even centuries old. The old plans are safely tucked away in the state archives.
