Quincy Street Signs Removed

At the city's request, the University yesterday removed two brightly-colored signs encouraging students headed to Memorial Hall to cut through the Yard rather than cross busy Quincy Street intersections because the posters were a traffic hazard.

But with hundreds of first-years trudging to Annenberg Hall for meals, Harvard and city officials continue the effort to accommodate new pedestrian traffic patterns.

The city's Traffic, Parks and Transportation Department requested that the wedge-shaped signs, which jutted into Quincy Street, be removed, according to department Director Sue E. Clippinger.

"They are not the kind of signing we would support," Clippinger said. "The signs could get hit, people could trip over them. And if there was snow and we plowed, they would get in the way."

The University had planned to remove the signs before the city complained, said Harris S. Band, director of physical planning at Harvard Planning and Real Estate.

"They were intended all along as temporary signs to remind students that there was a pathway to Memorial Hall that was safe and pleasant," Band said.

Administrators are anxious to divert student traffic away from the busy intersections where Quincy meets Cambridge Street and Broadway to the new gate between the Yard and Memorial Hall.

The intersections are not highly unsafe, city officials said, but are difficult for pedestrians to cross.

"It's sort of halfway between a city street and a highway, which makes it an unfriendly crossing," Clippinger said.

To make the intersections safer, the city has changed the phasing of the signals to give pedestrians more time to cross, University officials said.

Sewer work is planned for the intersections in the future, and Harvard may use this opportunity to redesign the intersections, Band said.

The city, meanwhile, hopes to extend crosswalks and to curb speeding in the area by consulting area residents and narrowing roadways.

"We want to see if we can get cars moving slower so they don't fly out of the underpass," Clippinger said.

The University is also distributing a map to first-years and is looking into permanent signs directing students to walk through the Yard

"We want to see if we can get cars moving slower so they don't fly out of the underpass," Clippinger said.

The University is also distributing a map to first-years and is looking into permanent signs directing students to walk through the Yard