BOSTON – The roads, parks and landmarks that are now part of Massachusetts’ identity were once just a paper plan. Now, for the first time, these plans are being digitized so that the public can access them.
Hundreds of years of projects
Department of Conservation and Recreation archivists have spent the past two years compiling and cataloging documents from drawers and filing cabinets.
“There were so many plans scattered throughout the building,” said records assistant at Mass DCR Allison Maguire.
It is a major achievement for the group to complete the massive digitized project and bring the plans into the modern computer age.
“We’ve reviewed about 100,000 images over the past few months to make sure they meet the standards,” said Mass employee Madeline Moison. DCR.
Hundreds of years of projects are now available to today’s architects.
“They’ll just have a database at their fingertips where they can search information that we individually catalog plan by plan,” said plans archivist at Mass. DCR Sam Sharp. “It includes things as big as dams and bridges and things as small as that fountain from your favorite park.”
Protecting the past
The project was also prompted by the increase in remote work across the state. But not only architects or government employees can view the blueprints; the general public can request access to plans such as a 1970 construction plan for Soldiers Field Road, home of WBZ-TV.
“Storrow Drive is a big one, you know, for every bridge, for every Storrowing, we can get some plans for that,” Sam said.
The digitization project also helps protect the past by limiting the handling of fragile blueprints that are decades or even centuries old. The old plans are safely stored in the state archives.
