Killam Discusses Proposals to Alter Charles River and Basin

The following article commenting on the proposed changes in the Charles River Basin was written for the Crimson by C. W. Killam, Professor of Architecture and chairman of the Cambridge Planning Board.

The report of the Special Commission on the Charles River Basin is now before the Legislature. It proposes to complete the parks and drives on both sides of the Basin from the Charles River Dam to the dam just above Watertown Square. To increase the park and playground area and to provide for continuation of the drives, the banks of the Basin are to be filled in on the Boston side to a maximum of about four hundred feet out.

Cambridge Traffic Helped

Cambridge traffic would be helped by this improvement, most of all by the new drives on the Boston bank which would fill in the present gap between Bay State Road and Otter St. The new drive would pass under the arches of the Harvard and Longfellow bridges and would thus give a continuous road which, after crossing Cambridge St., Brighton, at the end of the River St. bridge at grade, will have no other crossing at grade until it reaches the 'end of the Charles River Dam where it connects with Nashua St., which is now being widened. This is a clear run of nearly four miles without danger to pedestrians who are fenced out of the drive. The Boston-Brookline traffic, it is believed, would be in part deflected from Beacon St, and Commonwealth Ave, to the new drive under the Harvard Bridge arches and thus the present congestion of Boston-Cambridge traffic on Massachusetts Ave would be relieved. The Basin drive would also run under the arches of the Longfellow Bridge and therefore relieve further congestion at Cambridge and Charles Sts. This new drive along the Boston side which is thus seen to be of primary importance for traffic to Cambridge and towns to the north and west of Cambridge, is the feature most opposed by Beacon St. organizations who claim that the drive would ruin the park. The answer to this objection is that no horns would be blown because there would be no cross streets and no pedestrians, and that motor cars on a smooth park road make little noise. The drive would be crossed by footbridges so that pedestrians would not be endangered. It seems unreasonable for a few residents on the Boston shore to insist that they be supplied with a rural park at their back doors. Great cities cannot provide secluded and quiet groves to residents of congested centers.

Will Bridge River

On the Cambridge side it is proposed to build an underpass for: Memorial Drive at Massachusetts Ave., thus obviating the congestion at that point.

It is proposed also to build a parkway from Fresh Pond Parkway at Mt. Auburn St, to the river at Gerry's Landing and across the river by a new bridge connecting with the present Soldiers Field Road on the Brighton side. This would tend to divert a good deal of traffic which now passes through Mt. Auburn St, in front of the hospitals due to the fact that, at present. Memorial Drive ends opposite Hawthorne St.

As far as rowing is concerned, the filling in of the shores will not seriously shorten the courses in the lower Basin, and the substitution of a sloping beach for the present granite wall will reduce the rough water which reflects back from this wall on account of the prevailing westerly winds.

Cost is $4,250,000

The cost of the portion of the improvements to be built in the next four years is estimated to be about $4,250,000. Of this sum Mrs. J. J. Storrow's gift will pay $1,000,000, the state highway fund $850,000., Boston $150,000., as its share of an overpass from Commonwealth Ave, at St. Paul St. to the Basin drive, and Cambridge $160,000 as, its share of the underpass for Memorial Drive at Massachusetts Ave. The balance of the cost, estimated at about $2,100,000, would be paid by the cities and towns of the Metropolitan Parks District in proportion to their assessed valuation. The share for Cambridge would be about $150,000, which added to the $150,000, for the Memorial Drive underpass, would make a total cost of about $300,000. Cambridge has already contributed about $3,270,000 to the cost of the Basin and its bridges, will pay about $500,000, more as its share of the Cottage Farm Bridge, and is paying about $175,000. per year as its share of the original cost of the Basin and the Dam and for maintenance changes. It therefore seems fair to ask that the drive on the Boston side which would help Cambridge traffic should not be omitted on account of the local clamor against it.

The improvement as a whole would increase the park and play ground area, would relieve traffic congestion, would tie in with other traffic arteries which are being planned, would complete the park system along the Basin, and would do all this at a minimum cost as compared with street widenings or park construction in more built-up parts of the district. It would add greatly to the beauty of the Basin.