Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1902-11-14
King Street Improvement.

Now that the electric railway company
is using its Cameron street track and the
repaying of King street has reached a
l.'}t within two squares of the purposed
terminus, rendering a double track for
that road from Washington street to the
city's western limits practically impossi
bic, many regret that the company was not
allowed to carry out its original plans.
BY this method the company would
have been compelled to pay for at leas t
twenty feet of the paving. 1t is
however, believed it would have paid for
the entire improvement had the city
shown disposition to allow the laying
of the double track. But at the time
some insisted that the company should be
made to pave from curb to curb on the
squares on which they desired to place
double tracks and in addition be COM
PEELED to pay a rental for the use of the
street. Apart from these barriers, it is
said that other amendments were being
formulated which would have placed the
proposed double-t tracking out Of the
question, and which naturally caused the
the electric railway company to aban-
don all its plans and overtures.
The matter was fully debated in the
Common Council several weeks ago and
the proposition to enforce the payment
by the company of thousand dollars
per annum in addition to paving the
street did not meet with general favor.
1t was, however, the opinion of the
majority that the company should pave
from curb to curb from Washington
street to the citv's limits for the
privilege asked and this, it is believed,
they would have done. With no
apologies to make for the insincerity of
some railroad promises of past years,
the Gazette is satisfied it voices the
opinion of many people living on King
street rs well as numerous Others resid-
ing in different parts of the city when 1t
observes that it would have been better
to have left well-enough alone, and If
the railway company was willing TO
pave King street from Washington
street to the city's limits it was all that
should have been required. Such
procedure would have relieved both the
property-owners and the city of the costs
of the new paving. So far as the
danger or inconvenience of double
track is concerned, it is evident that
risks to life or limb would be in no
wise augmented by double track. 1t
has been shown that streets in other
cities narrower than King street aud
far more populous have double
tracks. Alexandria is now on slow
but forward march. Strangers are coming
to live among us, houses are in demand,
our manufactures are prospecting and the
establishment of others is contemplated
The tide had better be taken at its flood.
Too many professions have been allowed
to pass in by-gone years. The president
of the electric railway company assured
members Of council that when the new
Long bridge shall have been completed
fares between Alexandria and Washing
ton would be lowered, as the toll across
the new structure will be much less than
that now required of the company by the
corporation owning the structure. He
also said it was the purpose of the COM
pany to run cars in the near future be-
tween Alexandria and Washington at in
tervals of ten minutes. The increase IN
the number of trains and lower fares
would produce conditions long wished
for by the people of this city.