Mem Drive Lights

The Massachusetts Historical Society yesterday blocked a proposal to install new mercury vapor lights along a two-mile stretch of Memorial Drive.

Valerie Talmege, an archaeologist for the historical society, told Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) officials who proposed the plan that they will have to present other alternatives.

Talmege said the society believes new, modern lights would clash with Cambridge's historical architecture and threaten the Charles River Basin's listing in the national historical register.

William Taylor, a landscape architecture consultant for the city of Cambridge, showed the board a replica of the lights currently in place, which he said would cost $800 more per unit than the bright mercury vapor lamps to install.

The Historical Society urged the MDC to investigate the replica lamps.

MDC electrical engineer Maurice Randall said that the currentfixturescould fall on passersby and do not provide adequate lighting for drivers. The proposal would increase illumination on the road by over 500 per cent, Randall said.