QUINCY STREET

Quincy Street has always marked the eastern edge of the Harvard Yard, but in recent years, as a boundary it has become more of a tradition than a reality. Thanks to the building of Fogg and the Faculty club, and the occupation of the Union by the Freshmen, Quincy Street is now a highway cleaving the Yard in two, with a stream of students constantly crossing from one side to another. This situation is growing more and more dangerous as automobile traffic down Quincy Street increases. It has become the regular route of the busses from Harvard Square to Somerville, and it is a thoroughfare for cross-town traffic.

Some time ago there was a plan to close up Quincy Street and divert the traffic onto Prescott, by continuing this through to Massachusetts Avenue over a vacant lot. While this would be the ideal solution, it is unlikely that the Cambridge police in their present truculent mood would consent to any such radical change. Fortunately the University itself could do much to remedy the dangerous situation. If it forbade parking along the street, took down the great fence that separates it from the rest of the Yard, and replanted the shrubs so that Fogg and the Union would group themselves with the rest of the buildings, Quincy Street would be reduced to the status of one of the roads running through the Yard, except that it would be open to traffic. Not only would this add greatly to the charm of the Yard by finishing off the quadrangle behind Sever, but it would make Quincy Street more convenient for traffic and would greatly reduce the danger of accidents to pedestrians by giving them an unobstructed view in either direction.