Underpass Foes to Carry Plea to Mass. Legislature

Opponents of the Memorial Drive underpasses are expected to turn out in large numbers at the State House tomorrow in an attempt to erect as many legislative roadblocks to the underpasses' construction as they possibly can.

They will urge the passage of three bills that would either postpone construction or repeal the original legislation authorizing the Metropolitan District Commission to build the underpasses. The underpass foes will plead their case in Room $36 of the State House at a hearing begining at 10 a.m.

They will claim that the underpasses--to be built at River St., Western Ave., and Boylston St.--Will not solve the problem of traffic of congestion on Memorial Drive and will only destroy valuable open areas of the Charles River bank.

Last year adversaries of the underpasses turned out in droves at two public hearings, 500 at one hearing and about 300 at another. However, a number of anti-underpass bills were introduced during the legislature's last session and were all subsequently defeated.

The bills that the underpass opponents will favor tomorrow are:

* House Bill 788: this would repeal the original authorizing legislation and--if passed--would give the anti-underpass forces a total victory.

* House Bill 1773: this would prohibit the MDC from building the underpasses until it had completed a survey of the Charles River Basin and determined that the underpasses fitted in with "the most advantageous development of the river front area."

* House Bill 1774: this legislation would establish a "project review board," composed of one neutral member, one member appointed by Cambridge and one by the MDC; the review board would have to approve plans for the underpasses before the MDC could build them.

A fourth memorial Drive bill will also get a hearing tomorrow, but the underpass foes are expected to oppose it. The bill, introducted by Representative John J. Toomey (D-Cambridge), would direct the MDC to construct a center dividing strip on Memorial Drive from the Massachusetts Ave. underpass (near M.I.T.) to the River St. bridge.