Underpass at Soldiers Field Road Planned

Business School students may be nursing chronic headaches after January 14, when the Metropolitan District Commission moves in its steam shovels and drills to begin construction of a 500-foot underpass on the Boston side of the Larz Anderson Bridge.

According to M.D.C. Commissioner Edgar F. Copell, two major underpass projects will be constructed on Soldiers Field Road at a cost of about $3,000,000.

Besides the underpass at the Anderson Bridge, another will be constructed at Cambridge Street by the River Street Bridge. It will be 1600 feet long, and the construction will also include a rotary above the ground.

After the completion of the underpasses, the M.D.C. plans to remove the traffic light at Boylston St. and Soldiers Field Road. This will allow traffic and football crowds to move from Cambridge to the Stadium without interference.

Funds for the two projects will come from the $200,000,000 highway bond issue passed by the Massachusetts legislature. The Commission already has $16,000,000, but under the provisions of the bond issue construction cannot begin before January 14.

The Commission expects the project to take over a year to complete. During that time it will have to block off portions of the road by the Anderson and River Street Bridges.