South Park Road

stiltzkin

Explorer
Feb 8, 2022
452
596
Medford
I drive by this a lot but always forget to look it up. Something reminded me of it this week.

Driving west on 532, at a curve you can clearly see that there used to be a road that continued straight. A southern section of South Park Road that used to connect.

There has been a large metal gate with a ROAD CLOSED sign blocking off the road for a long time - I want to say at least 10 years. It looks open on Street View imagery from 2009. In 2012 there are a bunch of logs strewn across the road, and then after that the gate is present. If you look at Street View from the northern end of the closed section, it looks like there is now a pile of sand and debris blocking people from driving further south, as well.

Just wondering if anyone knows how this section of the road came to be closed. Private property back there so I'm guessing locals want to discourage trespassing? Still, it's present on topo maps as far back as 1870.

south_park_rd.png
 

Teegate

Administrator
Site Administrator
Sep 17, 2002
25,602
8,177
I don't know the exact reason. Most likely adjacent land owners asked to have it closed just like what may have happened with Oriental Road and others.
 
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bobpbx

Piney
Staff member
Oct 25, 2002
14,153
4,257
Pines; Bamber area
It's kind of interesting you can drive Moores Meadow dirt road from 532 on Google Maps. Here's the other end. The driver must have felt kind of frisky that day.

1664660557921.png
 
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Teegate

Administrator
Site Administrator
Sep 17, 2002
25,602
8,177
You can drive from the other end but you just can't go through. It only closed about 10 years ago. Before that you could drive it. ATV's were driving down at full speed at night and it became a problem.

Edit: I see. You mean from 532 to Sooy. Yea, that road reminds me of some of the back roads we drive in Vermont.
 
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stiltzkin

Explorer
Feb 8, 2022
452
596
Medford
The driver must have felt kind of frisky that day.

It is actually really funny that it seems to depend on the particular driver at the time they're doing Street View photography. In 2009 they were down for it. But every time after that they were like...nah.

It may also depend on the particular vehicle they happen to be driving. Sometimes Street View cars are little sedans and sometimes they're crossovers or SUVs.
 
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