The times., 1898-12-15

District Commissioners Wight and
Beach yesterday addressed a letter to
the Highway Extension Commission con-
s.:ting of the Secretary of War. the Sec
retary of the Interior and Gen. John NJ.
Wilson, chief of engineers of the army.
presenting several plans of highway ex-
| tension, relative to the proposed changes
in Fourteenth Street, Illinois Avenue,
roads A and B, and other short streets.
Two maps, which were sent to the Dis
trict Commissioners for examination and
report, were returned to the Highway
Commission One Is marked A and is
| n tentative sketch with a rather arbitrary
location OF streets, and the second, mark
| ed b, is the resultant study, after grades
and other matters have been considered.
Some time ago these maps were received
from the Office of the Highway Commis-
sion with a letter stating that Fourteenth
Street would be moved two hundred feet
further west; that Illinois Avenue would
be omitted west of Seventh Street; that
roads A and would be abandoned: that
the short street Immediately north OF
that the Commissioners were requested
to revise the size OF the blocks SO as 10
make the streets nearly four hundred feet
apart.
1.-The order of the Commission as to the
relative size of the blocks" says the
letter of the District Commissioners,
coupled with the instruction that they
shall be regulated by grades, appears TO
leave great discretion in the develop
1. ri. Nan Sh
streets that cannot be changed except
by act of Congress, in black lines. Broken
black lines indicate streets that cover
large tracts and have been acceptable to
| the owners, while red lines indicate
streets laid out three hundred feet apart
| below Brightwood and four hundred feet
apart above that section.
1T Is evident that below Brightwood
any other distance than three hundred
feet would make considerable confusion
in the plan, because of the recorded sub
! division of Petworth and the streets laid
| out and accepted west OF Sixteenth
| Street. Above BriGhtwood even distances
! of four hundred feet fail to join with cer-
tain existing streets or with streets In
| tracts where no change is desired. They
| also affect Emory Chapel and Battle
| Cemetery, and, in running into the broken
| country near Sixteenth Street, they pass
| over ground at many points unfavorable
| for grade.
ut may be well TO add that the Com
| missioners consider that block widths Of
| four hundred feet are rather unfavorable
| for subdivision purposes. Blocks of two
| hundred and fifty feet are more nearly
| ideal, as the former with an alley. and
| the latter with place street and alleys,
| allow lots one hundred and fifteen to
| ninety feet in depth, which are close 10
| the limiting figures of economical subdi-
| visions.
| ut will appear that on account Of
| grades a readjustment Is necessary for
| the streets from NJ to ? and west OF
| Thirteenth, and that they should be also
| moved to connect with streets alreldy
| laid out east of Seventh Street. Also that
| Street should be dropped on account of
| grade and because of its interference With
Rattle Cemetery. A readjustment is ike
| wise considered for the Streets Y.
| and Il, because of the topography, and
| for the reason that they are a great dis
| tance from the city where very large
blocks have always been considered sd-
| visabIe. East of Seventh Street the land
| is of rolling nature. so that grades bear
| little weight in the location of the
| streets but 1t is advisable that they con-
| meet with the streets recorded cast Of
North Capitol Street with those In Ia
| koma Park, and with those In the small
| tract bordering on Seventh Street road.
| at is recommended in addition to the
abandonment of Illinois Avenue and n
| Street, as ordered by the Highway Com
| mission, that there be further eliminated
| the streets J and Q. west of Thirte enth
| street, and all of Y Street lying on the
| west side of the Seventh Street road 4.
| This will give an average block distance
north of Brightwood and west of Seventh
| Street of $50 feet, all of which blocks are
| varied in size to suit the topography and
| the conditions of subdividing East of
| Seventh Street the block distances will
| average 800 feet. making an average of
40 feet for the whole plan of section one,
! north of Brightwood.
| THE Commissioners are advised that
| the objections which have been presented
are based entirely upon desire to make
the street extension plan conform to a
| few frame houses and existing property
| lines where the holdings are, in the few
cases, small 1t was exactly this policy
which caused the undesirable subdivision
| Immediately outlying the city, and as the
| highway act in its present form practi-