Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-07-09
PUBLIC HEARING ON
WASHINGTON STREET
WIDENING PROJECT
Street and Sewer Directors Are
Anxious TO Ascertain Pub
lie Sentiment.
STRONG LOCAL PROTEST

The Directors of the Street and
Sewer Department are anxious to have
an expression of public opinion re-
garding their proposal to widen Wash
ington street north from Eleventh TO
Fourteenth &c make IL conform 10
their general plan of improvements in
connection with the building of the
new Washington Bridge. They have
circulated letters among the abutting
property owners along this street and
have met with strong opposition 10
the project and the matter is being
held in abeyance by the directors until
they can satisfy themselves as 10
whether the general benefits 10 De
derived from their proposal are TO
outweigh the protestations of the com
paratively small number Of property
owners who are opposing the idea.
Washington street south from the
bridge to fourteenth is now about 40
feet wide from curb tc curb. The
directors want 30 make 1T the same
width all the way 20 Eleventh street,
the roadway south from Fourteenth
now being only 81 feet inches wide
To dc this they plan 10 take four feet
three inches of the sidewalk on either
side of the street. which would leave
these walks only seven feet nine
inches wide. In addition all the trees
along Washington street would have
to be cut down and removed when
The curb is set back.
BY this plan OF the board the widen
ing could be accomplished with prac-
ticaliy no condemnation cost TO the
city. because no valuable properties
would have to be purchs sed. In the
future. they estimate. should pedes-
trian traffic become so heavy that the
seven foot sidewalks were too narrow
they propose to take enough land
along the street TO make them wider
but for the present they do not think
the seven foot nine inch sidewalks S
would be too narrow.
The abutting property owners are
almost unanimous in their objection 10
the plan. which the directors have
agreed upon on paper. They claim the
narrow sidewalks would decrease the
value Of their holdings. and. further,
that they would be inadequate for traf-
fic. They point to the two public
schools along Washington street with
lA titt St&tlOH dhftItd edN tfiB
narrow sidewalks and the removal of
the trees would endanger the lives of
the children who have to use this
street to get to and from school.
The street directors plan TO have a
public hearing on the project. but as
yet have not fixed 5ate for it. They
say they will be governed by the de-
cision of the majority of all the people
in the matter. In other words. should
the preponderance of sentiment, es-
pecially on the part Of citizens who are
not interested in the way of real
estate holdings along Washington
street, favor the widening of that
throughfare for the purpose of inn
proving the city's highways aud the
approach TO the new bridge, they will
proceed with their original plans to cut
down the sidewalks.
Washington street will be paved
south of the bridge, but what ma
terial is TO be used has not been deter
mined. The new paving will be done
whether the street is made wider or
not. North OF the bridge the approach
on the Boul aevrdsg inic dduoii ooont
on the Boulevard is in good condition.
Washington street is now being paved
with asphalt