Evening star., 1893-07-27
THE CONDUIT ROAD.
Col. Elliot Recommends That 1t he Widened
Inn


and Improved.
In his last annual report to the War De-
partment in regard to the Washington
| aqueduct, Col. G. H. Elliot, the engineer
officer in charge, suggests the construction
Of boulevard on the Conduit road. He
says:
THE present macadam pavement of the
Conduit road was only made vide enough
(about twelve feet to prevent the earth
covering Of the arch Of the masonry con-
duit under the road from being cut through
by travel. The travel On the road in good
weather and especially on Sundays and
other holidays. has increased SO enormously
that collisions are frequent Wrecks of ye-
hicles are often seen along the sides of the
road on Monday. and there Is constantly
danger Of serious accidents by collision en-
the narrow pavement OF tine road. The
greater portion of the Conduit road is be-
yond the District line. put it and the strip
Of land through which 1t passes belong en-
tirely to the United States 1t Is almost the
only II not quite the only road out of the
city, that has not been spoiled for driving
purposes by street railways. 1t is one of
the most picturesque roads in the country
nS ,ar p up INTO ITO Margand amid the
the only route to the city tnat is available
for a large number of the farmers of Mont
allow the road or any part Of the strip of
land referred to. to be occupied for railroad
purposes. and in its charter for a railroad
and parallel to 1t Qhe Washington and
Great Falls railway, the marring Of the
beauties of the road was carefully guarded
against, and the construction of more than
one line OF railway near the Conduit road
was prohibited.
The Pavement should BE widened.
THE macadam pavement should be widen
ed to a width of thirty feet. The depth Of
the new portions should be thirteen iaches,
including eight inches of large stone four
inches Of small broken stone ana one inch
Of binder. There should be wide paved
gutter and line of shade 'rees preferably
alternate linden and tulip poplars) on each
side of the road, and the slopes of emba nix
ment should everywhere be sodded. This
plan will require the widening of the road
bed at several places by adding TO the
width Of the embankments over the culverts
that pass under the aqueduct by cutting
away embankments on the upper side of
the road and by filling on it's lower side.
Il estimate that the cost Of The work re-
Quired for that part Of the road that lies
between the auxiliary gate house at the dis
tributing reservoir and the foot of Dalecar-
liza Hill, a distance OF 13 200 feet CT about
two and one-half miles. will be S34. go The
remaining distance to Cabin John bridge.
which is the limit of the major part of
the travel at present. is about three miles.
1t will probably not be necessary to eX-
tend the improvement Of the road beyond
this point for several years.
In addition to widening the pavement of
width of 100 feet (or such other width as
may be necessary on each side Of the road
should be purchased or condemned for the
purpose Of parking 1t, and with ,he addi-
tional object Of controlling the land .ebut-
| ting on the road and excluding the liquor
and to which many of the collisions on the
road are doubtless attributable