A 'False Choice' For Boston's Back Bay

"To Back Bay residents outraged by the idea of rerouting traffic onto the storied Charles River Esplanade during construction on Storrow Drive, state officials offered another scenario yesterday: nighttime beeping, rumbling, and jackhammering in their backyard for nearly 2 1/2 years.

In meetings with reporters and community groups, Conservation and Recreation Commissioner Richard K. Sullivan Jr. warned that one of the options that would keep traffic on Storrow Drive and off the popular Esplanade would require overnight noisy construction during the long-delayed restoration of the decrepit Storrow Drive tunnel.

Some residents accused the commissioner of pressuring them to support the temporary rerouting of traffic onto the Esplanade by offering the more unattractive alternative of overnight work on the tunnel.

'We're being given a false choice,'said state Representative Martha M. Walz, a Back Bay Democrat who opposes the Storrow bypass."