The Southwest Corridor or Southwest Expressway was a project designed to bring an eight-lane highway into the City of Boston from a direction southwesterly of downtown. It was supposed to connect with Interstate 95 (I-95) at Route 128. As originally designed, it would have followed the right of way of the former Penn Central/New Haven Railroad mainline (current Amtrak Northeast Corridor) running from Readville, north through Roslindale, Forest Hills and Jamaica Plain, where it would have met the also-cancelled I-695 (Inner Belt Expressway). The 50-foot-wide (15 m) median for the uncompleted "Southwest Expressway" would have carried the southwest stretch of the MBTA Orange Line within it, replacing the Washington Street Elevated railway's 1901/1909-built elevated railbed. Another highway, the four-lane South End Bypass, was proposed to run along the railroad corridor between I-695 in Roxbury and I-90 near Back Bay. History Early railroad history The Boston and Providence Railroad (B&P) was chartered on June 22, 1831 to build a rail line between its two namesake cities. Construction began in late 1832, and the B&P opened from Park Square, Boston to Canton in 1834. Through Roxbury and Jamaica Plain, the railroad largely followed the valley of Stony Brook. The remaining section of the B&P main line from Canton to Providence opened the following year with the completion of the Canton Viaduct. The B&P, like many early railroads, was primarily intended for intercity travel; the only intermediate stations north of Canton were at Dedham Plain (later called Readville) and Pierpont Village (later called Roxbury). Two additional stations in Jamaica Plain were added in 1842: Jamaica Plain at Green Street, and Tollgate (later Forest Hills) where the line crossed the Norfolk and Bristol Turnpike. Additional stations on the inner part of the line were soon added, including stops at Boylston Street in Jamaica Plain and Heath Street in Roxbury. The B&P began regularly running Dedham Specials (which used the main line to Readville and the Dedham Branch to Dedham station) in June 1842, which made commuting from these intermediate stations possible. A second track from Boston to Roxbury was added in 1839 and extended to Readville in 1845. Commuter traffic on the B&P – which had numbered just 320 daily passengers from the eight stations north of Readville in 1849 – rapidly expanded thereafter. The railroad cut sharply into the profits of the private turnpike; it became a free public road (Washington Street) south