Harvard Asks to Build Huge Pedestrian Mall At Yard's North Edge

The University has asked the City for permission to create a huge pedestrian mall next to Memorial Hall by closing part of Kirkland St. and building a 400-foot underpass beneath Cambridge St. The $2 million project would mean anyone could walk from the Yard to the Law School without crossing a street.

Harvard is "willing to start construction any time," L. Gard Wiggins, administrative vice-president, said last night. If the City Council gives its approval before its summer recess at the end of June, first construction would probably begin before the close of the year and the entire project would be completed before 1967.

Two new University buildings--the new million-dollar Center for International Relations and the $10 million Undergraduate Science Center--are planned for the immediate vicinity of the mall. There has been some speculation that one or both of the buildings might extend onto the closed portion of Kirkland St., but Wiggins said last night that he doubted that either of the structures would protrude into the roadway.

Wiggins wrote City Manager John J. Curry '19 last Thursday asking formal permission to build the underpass. The letter, which was transmitted to the City Council yesterday, read in part:

"The plan would have the obvious additional advantage of eliminating a serious accidental hazard at the junction of Kirkland and Cambridge streets. Figures compiled by the Planning Board of the City of Cambridge indicate that 28 accidents have occurred here in the last five years."

Mem Hall to Littauer

The underpass would stretch from in front of Memorial Hall to Peabody Square in front of the Littauer Center for Public Administration. In return for the closed section of Kirkland St.--from Oxford St. to Kosciuszko Sq.--the University has offered slightly more than 11,000 sq. ft. of ground. The land, adjacent to existing roadways, would be used to widen Quincy St. next to Memorial Hall and Cambridge St. in front of Littauer.

Cars coming up Kirkland St. would be diverted into Quincy St. This traffic pattern and the closing of the portion of Kirkland St. were first suggested several years ago in a University-financed traffic report of the Harvard Square area. Last fall Robert E. Rudolph, Cambridge Traffic Director, formally endorsed the suggestions.

The idea for the underpass--and consequently the pedestrian mall--seems to have come from the University, however. Wiggins said in his letter to Curry that "preliminary investigation indicates that there are no engineering problems involved, and informal talks with various Cambridge City department heads lead us to believe that this plan, if carried out, would be of the greatest benefit to the City."

He said last night that traffic flow would be measurably improved because of the underpass and the elimination of pedestrian crossings.