City Studies Widening of Boylston St.

The City Council's Ordinance Committee is studying a plan which will provide for the eventual widening of Boylston Street from Harvard Square to Memorial Drive.

Members of the Council last week received from the Planning Board a recommendation that building lines, similar to those recently aproved for Mt. Auburn St., be established along the thorough-fare.

Purpose of the lines is to prevent any future construction from interfering with plans for widening the heavily-traveled street. Present buildings would not be affected by the recommended ordinance but their replacements would have to be set back as much as five feet from the present building line.

Strip From MTA Yard

In considering possible uses of the MTA property, the University has anticipated the building line proposal, which would cut a narrow strip off one side of the area.

The Board also noted that in the area between Mt. Auburn St. and Harvard Sq." the problem is quite difficult." It proposed shifting the line gradually from the MTA carbarn side of the street towards the easterly side, estimating that the buildings on that side are in "relatively poorer condition" and would therefore probably be replaced sooner.

Part of a long-range program to widen city streets without requiring large-scale land seizures, the plan will permit the city to make the street a uniform 65 feet wide along its entire length.