Evening star., 1925-09-06
Engineers Say Increased
: Transportation Will Be
imperative Soon.
L'ENFANT PLAN UTILITY
MARRIED BY ITS BEAUTY
Layout Not Designed for Huge
Traffic Load, First Re
port Declares.

Predlctlng that washington VIII
! have an ultimate population Of a mil
! lion people within the present CITY
/ limits and that there will be a conse-
! quent demand for increased trans
| portation facilities, the engineering
! firm of Mcclellan & Junkersfeld yes
/ terday laid before the Utilities Com
mission the first section of it's report
! on the transportation problems of the
I District.
! Considering the 13 census emu
! merations running from 1900 to 1920.
| the general law of growth indicates
! that within the present city limits the
/ ultimate population will be of the or
! der of a million people and that sub
! stantial part of this development will
| come relatively soon" the engineers
! concluded.
! For five months these experts have
/ been studying the Nations Capital
from every possible angle to determine
! how the transportation systems might
! be improved, and officials of the util-
tiles board believe the results of their
work will constitute the most far
/ reaching and complete survey that has
ever been made OF any citys trans
portatiDn needs.
The North American Co. of New
] York. which has substantial public
utility investments in Washington
put up $4,000 to have the inquiry
made, and it was indicated at the out
set that the information thus ac-
cumulated would serve to determine
whether merger of the citys trans
portation systems is likely TO be
realized.
Will Show Effect of Merger.
of which this is the first will be CON
! fined strictly TO facts. without recon-
mendations. The facts are being set
( up in so complete a manner, however,
! that il will be easy for the interested
: groups 10 draw logical conclusions
! as to just what effect a merger would
/ have on the transportation systems.
! When all the reports have been
/ made public they viii be available for
study. not only by the North Amer
ican Co. but by the local commission,
! the local railway and bus companies
and by the various orga nizations
working for the advancement Of the
city.
The first section of the report is q
detailed and accurate description OF
! how the National Capital grew from a
/ series of farms in 1900 to one OF the
beautiful capitals of the world in 1925
Vision of Future Bright.
After unfolding this story of the
past. the engineers gave this vision
Of the future:
/ In spite of the. many factors affect
ing rate of growth of population which
cannot be accurately forecast, The
! facts collected herein indicate that the
! recent rate of growth is likely to be
continued for a number of years to
come and that provision must be made
for -,
portation facilities.
The establishment in Washington
| of the national headquarters of large
! number of organizations is resulting
! in highly stable addition to popula-
ton. a nation of the size. wealth and
multiplicity of activities of the United
States of America, with its increasing
population, will continue to require a
very substantial Federal establish
ment.
Efforts TO reduce the number of
| Government employees in Washington.
both by their transfer to district
Offices elsewhere and through dimin-
ishing the staff and activities of the
several Government departments,
while they may be considerable as
affecting some departments, influence
such a small percentage Of the total
population as to have little effect upon
a city whose growth has reached the
proportions enjoyed by the metropoli-
tan district Of Washington"
Data to Be Complete.
The sections of the report which are
! to be made public within the next
few weeks will give more detailed flg
ures as to the existing street car
motor bus and other facilities, meth
DDS of routing and transferring and a
great mass of data as to how the
population moves to and fro through
the city in the various types of con-
veyances.
The engineers pay high tribute 10
| Maj. PEnfant for the success he
achieved in laying out the plan for
the city of Washington from the
standpoint of beauty. They make the
observation, however, that multiple
intersections created by circles and
diagonal avenues and the location OF
parks in the line of highways has 10
some extent limited the capacity of
the streets to carry heavy traffic and
to this extent has defeated one of the
principles on which the pEnfant plan
was based.
AN exceptionally large proportion
of the area of the city of Washington
! is devoted to highways" the report
continues. These highways, how
ever, lose effectiveness on account of
their frequent changes in width and
direction and because of the inclusion
therein of numerous small parks or
circles, necessitating realignment of
traffic streams. Multiple intersections
resulting from diagonal streets slow up
traffic adm substantially complicate its
safe regulation. The grouping Of Gov
ernment office buildings. now housing
a number of workers unthought of a
hundred years ago, places heavy bur
dens on streets not originally designed
to carry such volumes of traffic.
Hold Plan Justified
Nevertheless, the plan must be con
sidered to have been justified in that
it has produced a city of exceptional
beauty without making impossible
transportation service, although some
what complicating that problem and
adding somewhat to the cost of such
service"
In discussing the growth of popu-
lation from $4,000 in 1900 to nearly
100000 in 1925, the engineers say
there is a greater concentration OF
population in the center of Washing
ton today than there was in Chicago
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