Q: WHERE DO I PARK? A: OPEN this Google Map
HOW DO I GET TO THE STADIUM? HOW DO I GET AROUND?
If you find yourself asking these questions, let’s thank our local transportation guru Ari Ofsevit for compiling the following info. Read as much or as little as you want (it gets really fucking detailed down at the bottom, and in the middle, and pretty much everywhere) but definitely read the part about parking for the Friday morning workout at Harvard. And give yourself LOTS of extra time to get to the stadium.
Welcome to Boston! Have you been to Boston? If yes, then you know what an easy city we have to navigate. If not, well, get ready.
So you need to get places, right? Right.
Let’s start with Harvard Fucking Stadium on Friday morning. It’s pretty centrally located: Boston is small and compact, and at 6 a.m. there shouldn’t be much traffic getting there. You have options: drive, bike, public transit, by foot.
Really…OPEN this Google Map
* DRIVING / Uber-Lyft-whatever: Put directions in your magic smart phone and it will tell you where to go. (If you’re driving an oversized camper van or something and see a sign that says “CARS ONLY” they are serious. We have a verb for what you will do to your vehicle.) EXPECT THAT THERE IS NO PARKING AT THE STADIUM, so it’s easier to use one of the free options nearby:
- BEST PARKING OPTION: Soldiers Field Road has four lots, three small lots accessible from the westbound side only, and a huge lot accessible from both directions. Put in directions for “Christian Herter Park” to get there. It’s about a 10 minute (max) run from there to the Stadium. There’s a route shown from some of the smaller lots but note that this requires crossing Soldiers Field Road, which is a “parkway” with a “35 mph speed limit” where people regularly hit 60. So if you take that route, legal requires me to tell you to be careful crossing! #SafetyThird
- Meters don’t come on until 8 a.m., but there are very few spots near the stadium. Your best bet is to park over in Harvard Square, where there is meter parking on most main streets. So as long as you get back to your car by 8:00, you should be fine parking there. It’s about a 10 minute walk to the stadium from Harvard Square.
- There are garages in Harvard Square but those cost real money.
* Biking: Biking in Boston is fun! If you are comfortable with biking in cities, you can probably bike around Boston. We have Hubway, which is a bike-sharing system, which you can use for the low, low cost of a few dollars per day. (Fun fact: BG’s “real job” before NP was as their marketing manager, and yes there’s video.) There’s a station right near the stadium, and if it’s full (which you can check on the Internets) there’s a lot of space in Harvard Square. If you beg, borrow or steal a bike from a friend (don’t steal), you can lock your bike to the stadium itself, or one of the many bike racks nearby. It’s light out at about 5 a.m., so don’t worry about lights.
* Public transit. Boston is a World Class City so the trains run all night, right? Wrong! But they should run early enough to get you to the stadium on time (and grouse as we do about the MBTA, or “The T” as it’s called), it usually doesn’t break down until at least 6:30 or 7 a.m. To ride you’ll need cash money, or a Charlie Card (the name is a long story), which you can usually get from a station agent at certain stations at certain times of day. Or buy a daily or weekly pass from any fare machine. If you take the Silver Line from the airport, that trip is free. But I think they still have fare machines at the airport if you want to get a pass.
- From the south (downtown): The Red Line subway runs to Harvard Square (again, about a 10 minute walk) and the first train arrives at 5:48, so enough time to get there.
- From the north (Porter, Davis Squares): the Red Line runs plenty early.
- By bus: Most any bus running to Harvard will get you there plenty early for the stairs. About 10 routes run to Harvard, two (the 66 and 86) run right to the stadium. At 5:30, there’s not even much traffic for them to get stuck in.
* Just run. Boston is really friggin’ small. You’re probably no more than 4 miles from the Stadium. Get a nice, good warm-up in.
How do I get around Boston the rest of Friday?
Traffic will devolve in to a general state of shitshow on Friday, especially with a Red Sox game, MIT commencement and a getaway day. Expect crossing the Charles to take 20 minutes by car later in the day. But Boston is a great walking city! Give your legs a stretch and see some of the sights. Follow the Freedom Trail and assorted historical things. Go to our many museums and cultural things. Walk around our prestigious institutions of higher education, or just along the Charles on a bright sunny day (this will make it rain). If you want to get further afield and don’t have a car, here are things you can do:
- Are you a seafood lover? You can get decent lobster in town, but if you want the full experience without going to Maine, take the Commuter Rail out to Gloucester or Rockport. One the way, you’ll go through Manchester-by-the-Sea. Yes, like the movie! Except there are no dive bars in Manchester-by-the-Sea. (Google “lobster in the rough” which means it won’t be served with any frills which you don’t want anyway.)
- Art lover? We have the Museum of Fine Arts (Green Line), the Institute of Contemporary Art (Silver Line, or just walk from South Station), Gardner (near the MFA), plus museums at Harvard and elsewhere.
- Historic buff? Go find the Freedom Trail and follow it.
- Revolutionary War historic buff? Take the Commuter Rail out to Concord and wander through the battlefields.
- Existentialist? Take the Commuter Rail to Concord and walk around Walden Pond to the replica of Thoreau’s cabin.
- Trail runner wanting a taste of Wachusett? Take the Red Line to Ashmont and the 240 bus to Chickatawbut Road (and you thought Wachusett was hard to say) and hike the Blue Hills. The Skyline Trail will give you a good taste of Wachusett.
How do I get to Wachusett on Saturday?
To get to Wachusett you’ll most likely wind up on Route 2. Route 2 feels like a highway until boom, traffic light. Boom rotary. It probably won’t be too bad in the morning, but be ready for those rotaries. You’ll probably miss the full rotary experience, which is a two-mile backup leading in to the rotary at rush hour. Sorry. We have to keep some fun for ourselves on weekdays. When you get to the rotary, slow down, yield to traffic in the rotary, signal when ready to yield (probably makes sense as a first timer to stay to the right, there aren’t lane markings or anything but people often create multiple lanes anyway) and then start breathing again down the road.
How do I get to the PARTY on Saturday?
Don’t drive yourself. There’s probably expensive parking there, but then you have to not drink beverages, and where’s the fun in that? Biking is good, walking if you’re staying nearby. By transit, take the Red Line to South Station and walk (15 minutes) to “Lawn on D” or change to the Silver Line to World Trade Center. Plenty of taxi/uber/whatever there too. Last trains leave downtown at 12:45 a.m. If you’re not from Boston, the place we’re going is actually called “Lawn on D” and refers to D Street (as South Boston has alphabet streets, A Street, B Street, C Street…)
