Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-09-30
REDUCING A ROADWAY
CORRESPONDENCE TOUCHING
NEWTON STREETS WIDTH.
Protest Against Action Of the Com
missioners in Narrowing Thorough
fare to oath Street.

To a communication from Mr.. Frank E
Waring of 1923 Newton street, in which
he states lit is rumored that the recent
order for the repair and improvement of
Newton street provides for reducing the
roadway from it's present width of thirty
feet, actual measurement, to twenty-four
feet" the District Commissioners have re-
piled that the street will be reduced to
twenty-four feet.
knowing your enviable record for up
rightness,' Mr.. Waring says, land in view
of the opinion given by our highest courts
in the case of Leroy d. Walter against
the Commissioners of the District of Co.
lumbia, that the Commissioners have no
express or implied power to narrow an es-
tablshed street. l am led to believe you
would not knowingly violate the law, and
that there must be some mistake, if the
rumor is correct" He then compares
Newton street with Monroe street, and
adds that the two are not in the same
class, as Monroe is only three blocks long,
and the improvements on the latter are far
inferior in cost and beauty to those on
Newton street.
"Our street." he goes on to say sis more
nearly comparable to Park road, except
that the latter is only forty feet wide
five feet less than Newton), ana yet has a
roadway twenty-eight feet wide. AS to our
building line desire to state that between
14th and 10th streets, on the north side, a
line 30 feet from the street and on the
south side one of fifteen feet were about
1880 adopted by common consent"
Want No Parking
Mr.. Warning concludes his letter by say
ing: I'VE do not want or need any portion
of the public street for parking, and owing
to the continuous line of shade trees it
will be impossible to grow sod under them,
and in consequence the public parking
would prove an eyesore. On the north side
of our street there is at present row of
NAPLES more than twenty-five years old,
located between the sidewalk and the gut
ter. To narrow the roadway and remove
the sidewalk to the curb line would bring
these trees to the middle of the walk, and
no one would be satisfied with the ar
rangement.
In Engineer Commissioner Biddle's in
dorsement upon the papers in the case he
says: The width of the street is 45 feet
and "a roadway 20 feet in width would give
only ~ feet from the curb to the houses.
A suitable sidewalk should be feet from
the curb, that this would practically pre-
vent all projections in the way Of steps or
such projections as might be allowed to
extend beyond the building line. This would
necessarily lead to an irregular and unsat-
isfaltory line Of house fronts or an made
quate sidewalk. In a street of this class
lying between two important street car lines
a suitable sidewalk Of sufficient width
would evidently be much used by the resi-
dents~ A width of "a feet for a roadway
has proved by experience to be ample
Continuing, Commissioner Biddle says:
This street extends only from 14th to 18th
street and therefore can never become in
any way an important thoroughfare for
general traffic. The roadway width of "a
feet is practically what exists at present
because in repaving the street the cutters
will be so constructed that wagons can
drive along them, while at present the gut
ter has to be so deep that it is practically
taken away from the width Of the roadway.
Two Streets Compared.
In speaking of the comparison between
Newton and Monroe streets the Engineer
Commissioner says: In length Monroe
street is comparable to Newton street, for
the latter extends, as above stated, from 18th