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A highway underpass in Boston has become a hotspot for art, exercise and community

By
Chris Tanaka
Chris Tanaka
Chris Tanaka co-anchors the morning news on WBZ-TV. He joined WBZ in 2022 after most recently working in Cleveland, Ohio.
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Chris Tanaka

/ CBS Boston

A highway underpass in Boston's South End has been transformed into a lively and welcoming community space.

The Underground at the Ink Block is an 8-acre parcel of land underneath Interstate 93 that's been re-imagined into an exercise space and art gallery. 

"It was kind of a dead space underneath an overpass. And now it's a usable space that actually goes and threads it, and connects it to the neighborhood next door," said Matthew Dickey, the deputy director for the Boston Preservation Alliance. "You're surrounded by art on one side and water on the other, and you're like,' huh, nice place to be," 

Dickey has a significant presence online as an artist, photographer and self-described "streetscape curator" who connects people and places. 

He has an encyclopedic knowledge of Boston, including the artists who painted many of the murals there.

ihh-underground-ink-block-frame-1711.jpg
There are several different murals on the 8 acre site. CBS Boston

"We're just looking at this concrete overpass, but yet you throw some art on it and now it's immensely more inviting," he said about one of the murals.  

Underground also has an off-leash dog park and a pickleball court.

"It exists to be a little happy surprise when you're just strolling and you don't expect to see it," Dickey said. "I think it also is a timestamp that is here for everybody to see."

Underground at the Ink Block is best accessed from Traveler Street in the South End and the South Bay Harbor Trail. For more information, click .

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