High Spine

The spine then heads eastward, between the Boston Common and Downtown Crossing areas to the north and the Bay Village and Chinatown neighborhoods to the south, and including the campuses of Emerson College and Suffolk University.

It then enters the Financial District and Government Center areas before ending with a string of transit oriented development projects near North Station.

The western part of the corridor follows an area along and directly north of the Massachusetts Turnpike that was extended along the Boston and Albany Railroad tracks and includes some former rail yards.

With development concentrated along the spine, the nearby residential neighborhoods such as Beacon Hill could retain their historic low-rise character, and it gave the city a distinctive skyline that acts as a visual reference for one's location within the city.

Others include One Dalton, 111 Huntington Avenue, 500 Boylston Street and the Berkeley Building, which are all visible from outside the city.