Council Approves University Project For Construction of Pedestrian Mall

The Cambridge City Council gave final approval Monday to the University's $2.3 million project to link the Yard and the Law School by a pedestrian mall. The vote was 7 to 2.

Harvard will now build an automobile underpass under Cambridge St., and in return the City will close off part of Kirkland St. behind Memorial Hall. The roof of the underpass and the abandoned part of Kirkland St. will be landscaped to form a continuos pedestrian path between the two parts of the Harvard campus.

The University will also probably build over the closed-off part of Kirkland St. An Undergraduate Science Center and a new Center for International Studies are tentatively planned for the area.

Monday's City Council action was mostly a formality. Last week, the Council gave preliminary approval to the project and asked Harvard and City attorneys to draw up the necessady legal papers.

During the week, the lawyers worked on two problems. First, they drew up papers by which the City agreed to transfer the section of Kirkland St. back to Harvard. And second, they worked out agreements under which the University guaranteed to build the underpass and also grant temporary usage of Kirkland St. until new alternate routes are provided.

Two Vote No

In the vote on the agreements, only Councillors Walter J. Sullivan and Andrew T. Trodden dissented.

Construction on the underpass will probably begin this spring and be completed by sometime in 1967. While the underpass is being built, two temporary roads will be constructed. One, carrying east to west traffic, will cut across Memorial Hall's triangular plot and pass within 20 ft. of the back of the Littauer Center of Public Administration. The other, coming from Harvard Square and carrying west to east traffic, will make a sharp turn in front of Littauer and then connect with Broadway.

Harvard first proposed the underpass last spring. Throughout the debate over the project, the University emphasized that the underpass would not only permit the unification of two parts of the campus but would also eliminate a dangerous traffic situation in front of Littauer.