Scheme Z Options Presented

BOSTON--At a sparsely attended hearing yesterday at the Museum of Science, government officials updated citizens on construction alternatives to a 16-lane, 11-story highway interchange slated for construction through East Cambridge.

Scheme Z, a proposal first approved by the Massachusetts Executive Office of environmental affairs in 1991, has provoked raucous disapproval from Cambridge residents who have complained that the proposal is environmentally and aesthetically unsound.

To replace Scheme Z, the state has proposed three alternative plans, that would handle the same amount of traffic, to improve the project's design and public approval ratings.

The details of the plans and slides of the designs were reviewed at the meeting.

The most radical deviation from Scheme Z, known as 8.1D Mod 5, depresses the artery underground, below the Charles River.

The plan outlines one 10-lane bridge, one elevated loop ramp north of the Charles River and a three-lane tunnel under the river. It would cost $1.28 billion.

There are concerns, however, about how the underground highway would affect the river.

To reduce the possible side effects on the Charles, the Mass Highway Authority proposes the Reduced River-Tunnel Option, which would reduce the sub-river tunnel from three to two lanes. But this plan necessitates a 12-lane bridge and two elevated loop ramps. It would cost $1.13 billion.

The Non-River-Tunnel alternative eliminates the tunnel altogether. The design has been called "Son of Z," however, because its two bridges with a total of 14 lanes and three loop ramps make it almost as visually imposing as the original design. It would cost $995 million.

The alternative proposals to Scheme Z, however, have yet to gain much public favor. Concerned citizens at the hearing said they did not want any interchange constructed in their neighborhoods for reasons ranging from increased traffic to blocking a living room view of the city.

C. Scully Stikes, president of Bunker Hill Community College, considers all the proposals unacceptable because the foot of the bridge will be in his college's athletic fields.

"We will not be a landlocked college unable to breathe in a choking, negative, urban environment," Stikes said.