By Bill Walczak, Reporter Columnist
April 15, 2021
A trash-strewn embankment along the southeast expressway near Tenean Beach. Bill Walczak photo
In 1954, construction began on the Southeast Expressway, with Dorchester the chosen path for a highway that would allowing for hundreds of thousands of suburbanites to get to and from downtown Boston. Not only did leaders of our Commonwealth decide to place their busiest highway into Boston in Dorchester, but its designers decided that it would be put on an embankment as much as 15-30 feet high in most sections, except in Savin Hill, where it would slice below grade. These high embankments above grade and the high walls for sections below grade block much of Dorchester from its waterfront.