Alrighty, the last entry on the Franklin Line! Let’s see what’s special, if anything, about Dedham Corporate Center (or, Dedham Corp/128, as some signage might refer to it as).
Dedham Corporate Center is located on Rustcraft Road, located near the interchange of US-1 and I-95 in Dedham. Adjacent to it is an office park on the Boston-bound side, which also houses a hotel, some medical offices, suburbia, the county DA’s office, and even a Cummins plant. All of the station’s parking is also located here. On the Franklin/Foxboro-bound side, you have a bit more useful to the average person: some transit-oriented housing, a kiss & ride, a slightly lesser amount of suburbia, and even the Legacy Place shopping center and a Costco. General Dynamics is also out here, and the 34E is a stone’s throw away across US-1.
*gets call*
…wait, waht? It’s just “Providence Highway” on the inner side of I-95? Okay then. So, cross the Providence Highway to get to the 34E on Washington Street. I did this, it was not fun. Almost got hit and killed. Would be nice if the 34E deviated into Legacy Place and the station’s kiss & ride. I digress. Legacy Place is your standard lifestyle center, with parking and flanked on all sides by shopping. Not much to say about it. Overall, not the worst station to finish off with. I will say though, the platform does seem a little short for game day sets to platform (they stop here), but it’s serviceable otherwise.
The good: It serves an apartment complex, some offices, and Legacy Place! It’s also in a pretty important location for park & ride passengers from I-95 and for those who don’t want to use Endicott or Islington.
The bad: The 34E really oughta deviate here. Lastly, the pedestrian experience going from the station to Legacy Place isn’t the best, to put it lightly. It also oughta have an extended and full-level high platform so the football train can fully platform here. And, I guess, by extension there also oughta be an overpass or tunnel connecting the two sides.
Nearby points of interest: Legacy Place is the big one!
Transit connections:
Commuter Rail (Franklin, Foxboro)
Overall, while it isn’t the best, it sure as hell is better to end the line here than on the last entry in terms of order of publishing. At least Dedham Corp. actually has stuff around it other than a shopping center and has some degree of an actual walkshed that isn’t Oops! All Parking! However, there are some relatively minor changes that would be nice. Overall, not bad though.
Rating: 6.5/10
