Harvard Rejects Plea To Oppose Inner Belt

Harvard will probably not take a public stand on the Inner Belt in the near future.

Urged by local residents to oppose the eight-lane expressway, the University briefly considered recommending that the state take a thorough look at the metropolitan area's transportation problems before building the Belt. Harvard sent a statement to M.I.T. and Boston University in the hope that the three universities could take a common position.

Neither of the other schools, however, has shown much interest in such a venture and Harvard is not prepared to push them.

The statement would have opposed the Inner Belt only on conditional grounds. It would have suggested that the original problems that prompted the planning of the Belt--almost two decades ago--have changed considerably. As a result, the statement would have urged the state to delay any firm decision on the expressway until a comprehensive new transportation study of the metropolitan area could be made.

Anti-Belt Groups

This argument is not new; it has been forwarded by a number of anti-Belt groups, but thus far has not affected state authorities. The Massachusetts Department of Public Works is now preparing a final recommendation for the Cambridge section of the highway. An announcement is expected early in January.

One route, along Brookline and Elm street, would take the highway straight through the City near Central Square and, in the process, uproot between 3000 and 5000 people. Another possible path for the highway would run through an industrial area in the Eastern part of the City. The DPW is expected to select the Brookline-Elm St. route--one which has aroused strong opposition in Cambridge, but which the DPW actually approved last spring. This approval was subsequently withdrawn in the fall when Gov. John A. Volpe ordered a review of the project.

University officials believe however, that any statement about the Belt has "political" overtones. They are, therefore, wary about making a move. Nor does Harvard want to seem to oppose M.I.T., which has forcefully objected to two routes near its campus. These routes are considered the only practical alternatives to the Brookline-Elm St. location.