The City's Tunnel Vision by Albert Southwick
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Worcester Telegram & Gazette Thursday, June 25, 2015 Southwick: The city's tunnel vision By Albert Southwick Posted Jun. 25, 2015 at 6:50 AM The big bash that Preservation Worcester hosted in May in the Lincoln Square Tunnel showed what imagination can achieve. Hundreds disported themselves in the gaily bedecked tunnel, which had been transformed to a combination art gallery and dance hall. All sorts of possibilities were opened up. The old tunnel, now only lightly used for traffic, suddenly became a cultural asset worth thinking about. Some perhaps were reminded of similar transformations in other places, such as the Old Vic Tunnels in London. In 2009 an empty space under Waterloo Station was transformed into an underground venue for the arts, and, for the next three or four years, featured all sorts of exhibits and entertainments. Some productions of the Old Vic, and many stage and musical shows were presented there. In 2011 British Prime Minister David Cameron presented the Old Vic Tunnels with the Big Society Award. He praised it as “an incredibly exciting project, bringing together young people from diverse backgrounds and offering them the chance to be part of such a creative and engaging venture at the heart of their community.” Kevin Spacey received the award with appropriate comments, noting that the Old Vic had put “a great deal of energy” into the project to help young artists and new ideas. A similar story could be told about the Kunst im Tunnel project in Duesseldorf, Germany, where, in a few weeks an experimental production of R.U.R., Karel Capek’s 1920 play, will be performed in an unused section of the old underground train station. Our Ernest Johnson Tunnel may not be destined for such impressive goals, but it may play a part in the city’s lively arts and entertainment scene. Which would be an unexpected development far removed from the original purpose. The tunnel has an interesting history, going back 60 years and more to when Lincoln Square was a bottleneck of epic proportions. Imagine Kelley Square with a railroad running through it. A railroad where trains once or twice a day blocked all other traffic for a half hour or so. That was Lincoln Square before 1950. It was a traffic nightmare. Cars and trucks poured into it haphazardly from six different streets. To cross it from Highland to Belmont streets, or from Main to Lincoln streets took steady nerves. On one corner of the square stood a railroad station with signals that halted traffic daily, east, west, south and north when the freight train made its leisurely crossing, usually at five o'clock. Many plans and proposals were made, including an elevated bridge connecting Highland and Belmont streets. Finally, in desperation, the City Council called in Ole Singstad for suggestions. Singstad, of Norway was the world master of tunnels. He had designed them all over Europe and America. Some of them were the Holland Tunnel in New York, the first two lanes of the Lincoln Tunnel, the Callahan Tunnel in Boston, and others in Florida, West Virginia and Louisiana. Lincoln Square was duck soup for Ole Singstad. In his lilting Norwegian brogue he told a fascinated City Council just how it could be done – a tunnel for the railroad under Belmont Street, demolition of some old buildings, a tunnel for northbound traffic from Main Street to Lincoln and Grove streets, an underpass under Belmont Street to connect Summer Street to Lincoln Street, and a big traffic circle to handle vehicles from all directions. The city councilors, awed by the legend before them, adopted the plan without a dissenting vote. It was built and served for the next 30 years. The pesky traffic jams at Lincoln Square were greatly eased. In the 1980s a new configuration was put in place, partly to accommodate the new Worcester Center Boulevard and other construction projects. The rotary was discontinued and the traffic in the tunnel was reversed, now running from north to south. An intersection a hundred yards east accommodates traffic headed for Lincoln Street. But the current plan still owes much to the genius of Ole Singstad. Thanks to him, the railroad has been banished from the square. And the other tunnel, even with reversed traffic, still keeps hundreds of vehicles out of the square every day. If you sometimes get frustrated when crossing the square, try to remember how things were in the days before Ole Singstad worked his magic. And now, as we have seen, one of his tunnels also offers a venue for artistic and entertainment talent, and who knows what else. I wonder what Ole Singstad would think of that. Albert B. Southwick's column appears regularly in the Telegram & Gazette. .