In Westwood, MA is the Route 128 rail station, a stop on Amtrak’s Acela and Regional trains between Boston and the rest of the Northeast Corridor cities to the south. It is also a stop on the MBTA’s commuter rail, and immediately off Massachusetts’ Route 128, (in that area at least) better know to the rest of the country as I-95.

A short train ride from Boston, easy access to trains to New York, and right off a major highway - it’s a perfect place to be something other than low-density single-family housing developments and office buildings with huge parking lots (or in this case, failing industrial parks). A few developers are planning a $1.5 billion mile-long “mini-city” according to the Boston Globe: a walkable, mixed-use development of stores and homes.

This is the sort of development we need to continue to promote. Many people do want to live outside major cities, but that doesn’t mean they always want to have to drive 15 minutes to get to the nearest grocery store and battle traffic anytime they want to reach Boston. Transit-oriented development gives people a choice.

Continue the conversation about urbanism in the Washington region and support GGWash’s news and advocacy when you join the GGWash Neighborhood!

Tagged: amtrak, development, smart growth, transit, urban plans, westwood station

David Alpert created Greater Greater Washington in 2008 and was its executive director until 2020. He formerly worked in tech and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco Bay, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He lives with his wife and two children in Dupont Circle.