Transportation
For a long time, transportation has played a role in the shaping of East Boston. The world's finest clipper ships were built at the shipyard owned by Donald McKay in the mid-19th century. A subway tunnel connecting the neighborhood to the rest of the city opened in 1904 and was the first underwater tunnel of its kind in the United States. Rows of houses were torn down to build the Sumner (1934) and Callahan (1961) tunnels, directly connecting automobile traffic from downtown Boston to the neighborhood. An airfield built in East Boston in the early 1920s eventually expanded to become Logan International Airport.
Logan Airport, New England’s primary international airport and the 20th busiest in the US, resides mainly in East Boston (though part of the airfield itself lies in Winthrop). It is almost completely surrounded by water. Landing at Logan is interesting as passengers are continuously over water and do not see the land until shortly before touchdown. There has been some controversy surrounding Logan. Conflict with MassPort, which owns and operates Logan, has been a source of bitterness among some local residents for decades. One expansion of the airport resulted in the community losing Wood Island Park, a green space designed by the noted landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted. In another episode, Logan construction caused noisy trucks to rumble through the neighborhood until a group of local women took to the streets with their baby carriages and blocked the vehicles. The tension between the airport and some local citizens continues, with MassPort attempting to expand again and add a fifth runway.
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