Construction barrier to be built near Dunster, Mather

In an effort to mitigate noise from traffic diverted to Cowperthwaite Street during ongoing construction, Harvard Real Estate Services (HRES) has agreed to build a six-foot high barrier in the middle of the street that will still allow traffic and pedestrians to pass through.

A wider shuttle turnout area will also be constructed between Dunster and Mather Houses, bringing the sidewalk closer to the entrances of the Houses.

Construction of the shuttle turnout area is set to begin sometime this week and should be completed within two weeks, according to Matthew R. Greenfield ’08, one of three Undergraduate Council representatives who have been bringing students’ concerns about this construction project to the College and HRES since last spring.

After the completion of the shuttle area, a six-foot high concrete and wood wall, called a Jersey Barrier, will be erected in the middle of Cowperthwaite Street.

The construction project is scheduled to last through the spring of 2007.

Last month, City Manager Robert W. Healy declined Harvard’s request to extend its permit allowing construction trucks to use nearby Grant Street, after neighborhood residents successfully petitioned to have truck traffic limited to Cowperthwaite Street.

According to Greenfield, Healy originally proposed a Jersey Barrier extending along all of Cowperthwaite Street. But under that plan, Greenfield said, “there would no pedestrian traffic, and you couldn’t walk through the Leverett Towers courtyard. The shuttles would go up Grant Street, near DeWolfe, instead of Dunster and Mather.”

After students expressed concerns about this plan, Thomas J. Lucey, Harvard’s director of community relations for Cambridge, brought the current design to the table. Now the Jersey Barrier will only extend halfway down Cowperthwaite and stop before the Leverett gate, splitting the street into two lanes.

Shuttle service will not be interrupted during the construction of the new turnout area, but the stop itself will end up looking “tremendously different,” said Greenfield.

After construction is completed, the sidewalk will be about 40 feet closer to the Houses, Greenfield said. Construction workers will also move a lamppost, put new landscaping in place, and move the Mather and Dunster fences away from the street.