Yard Will Close to Cars Following Commencement

The Yard will permanently close to virtually all motor vehicles shortly after Commencement this Spring. Only emergency vehicles and those necessary for large deliveries will be allowed in the Yard.

Safety considerations, ecological problems and construction of the Pusey Library are the principal reasons for the decision to ban motor vehicles.

Paul R. Rouillard Jr., manager of Central Services in Buildings and Grounds, said yesterday that the 75 or so vehicles that now travel through the Yard daily pose a threat to students and pedestrians. He added that the pollution and noise were also undesirable side effects of the daily traffic.

The Bridge

The construction of the Pusey Library will turn the road under the bridge between Widener and Houghton Libraries into a path, Diane McGuire, landscape architect for Buildings and Grounds, said yesterday. She said, however, that the path will be wide enough for emergency vehicles.

With the elimination of vehicular traffic, Buildings and Grounds will need a transfer point outside the Yard from which it would make deliveries. Rouillard said that consideration is being given to a Science Center location.

He said Building and Grounds is considering using noiseless electric carts for such deliveries and also for trash pickups.

Roillard said exceptions to the ban on motor vehicles will allow people with health problems to park in the Yard and permit students to bring vehicles into the Yard when moving into and out of their rooms.

He also said that those people who lose parking spaces in the Yard due to the new ruling will be given spaces in either the new Broadway Garage or in Holyoke Center.

McGuire said the total cost of the changeover is not known. "It's absorbed by various departments in the University," she explained.