Word: belt
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...times, some Cambridge residents must feel that Harvard is the only problem which has bothered the City for longer than the proposed Inner Belt highway. The City has fought the Belt ever since it was first designed in 1948. during those 20 years, the road has been subjected to so many studies that all but the most avid Belt-watcher have lost count...
Last week, the City won another victory of sorts in the battle, as Federal Roads Commissioner Lowell K. Bridwell agreed to postpone the final decision on the Belt until the completion of a two-part review of the highway. The new study would determine whether a Belt is still needed, and also find ways to case the road's impact on Cambridge...
Both pro-and anti-Belt forces put all the pressure they could on Bridwell. The City and its representatives in Washington pushed for a long and costly study. The state Department of Public Works (DPW) and allies such as the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce wanted an immediate decision to build the Belt. Agt one point, Bridwell reportedly told the assembled factions that he has spent more time on the Belt than on any other road since he entered office in 1966. He used the threat of an immediate decision against the City, and reminded the DPW that...
...first part of the review--whether or not the Belt is still needed--will almost certainly produce a "yes" answer. Bridwell insisted that the study use "existing data and assumptions," factors which the City's academic advisory committee feels pre-judge the case in favor of the Belt. One City Councillor remarked: "You take the same old set of data, run it through the same old machine, and you're going to get the same old answer." The anti-belt forces are also handicapped in that State agencies--which the City regards as stand-ins for the DPW--will...
...second part of the review may be more fruitful for the City. During the 20 years rhetoric have been spent fighting "any and all Inner Belts." The City preferred not to study ways of minimizing the impact of a road; they regarded such efforts as an admission of the Belt's inevitability. Now, for the first time, an intensive effort may be made to help Cambridge come to terms with an Inner Belt...