Evening star., 1925-09-20
STREETS In NATIONAL CAPITAL
SHOULD BE FINEST In COUNTRY
Modern Construction, Resurfacing and Widening
Are Prime Requisites of Program for Paving.
Repairs Should Be Handled Promptly.


| up on both sides $50 that the District
has to build entire new streets for
these new taxpayers, in scattered
suburban territory.
: The street engineers, already facing
more maintenance work than they
could handle, have had all this new
street area to lay. The result is that
they are now further behind on their
| work than three years ago in building
| streets in rapidly developing suburban
residential districts.
1t was generally admitted that the
| Washington streets were in fairly
good condition before the World War
at least there wasn't any great
| amount of kicking" about them. To
maintain our streets at the same
standard they were in 1914, and realiz-
ing that the street building profession
estimates the extreme life of pave
ments to be 80 years, 1t is obvious
that at least one-thirtieth Of our en-
tire roadway surfacing should be re-
surfaced each year-merely to keep
them up TO the imperfect condition
they were in before the war.
Much Is Undone.
A graphic chart showing the amount
or resurfacing done each year since
| 1914, as compared with what should
we have minimum accumulated de-
ticiency of resurfacing amounting to
100000 square yards. Remember this
| is not a precise statement but that
| any way you figure the total of work
undone aggregates more than 1900
| square yards of resurfacing, most of
| which should have been done years
ago and some of which has been held
| up for 13 years. 1t would cost up
ward of 100000 to do this left
| over work. and here is where the gas
tax fund is being applied-but, remem-
Der, each year there is another one
thlrtieth of the whole street surface
being added to the pile.
Third-1n regard to widening of bust
ness and thoroughfare streets. 1t Is
obvious that our principal downtown
business streets are overcrowded with
traffic, and this is emphasized by the
parking problem, Thirteenth street
and NJ street (Georgetown) are illus
trations Of how central business
streets can be improved by widening
and resurfacing. Wisconsin avenue
and BladeHsburg road are examples
OF a like improvement on thorough
fare streets.
The District street authorities and
Congress are committed to a gradual
street-W-idening program. as Is shown
by the fact that E street from Fifth
to Thirteenth is to be widened and re.
surfaced next Spring, and the widen
ing OF Eleventh street from Pennsyl-
vania avenue to New York avenue and
OF Connecticut avenue from X street
to Eighteenth street will be recon-
mended In the coming appropriation
bill.
Speed Is Desired.
But this work should not be allowed
ctl T. l.
the real solutions of the traffic prob.
lem, and in this connection it must
not be overlooked that congested
business streets ought to receive first
attention, and that 1t will do little
good to widen one small stretch of a
business street If 1t leads into a mar
row street. Street widening must be
carried through to an equally wide
outlet
Since the advantages of a widened
street have been demonstrated on
Thirteenth street, very strong de-
mand has grown for continuation of
this streetwidening program, espe-
cially in the downtown business sec
ton. just as rapidly as appropriations
can be secured from Congress.
ta) In regard to keeping a way
open for traffic during and after a
heavy snowstorm.
Bear in mind that there are two
distinct phases of this work-frst,
and really most important, and at
the same time least expensive, is
plowing the streets, pushing the
snow toward but not into the cutters.
so that vehicular traffic can move
without trespassing on the right-of-
way of the street cars; and, second, re-
moving whatever portion of the snow
the sun does not dispose of before the
cleanup force gets busy.
Lose Sight of Need.
Many persons, including District
officials, have seemed to lose sight
entirely of the Importance of plowing
a general traffic way alongside the
street car tracks and along all Of our
principally travelled streets. This is
Of prime importance. A plow attach
ment to be hitched to powerful
truck costs relatively very little. A
committee of business men and Dis
trict officials last year recommended
that 35 plows should be operated, al
lowing for 4-mile trips. We face
the Winter with % plows, II of which
are to be used on emile trips and
the others working on main traffic
thoroughfares as best they can.
If careful study showed that 35
plows are needed and that a 4-mile
trip is the most efficient run, we
should have at least 35 plows and not
try to get by with Smile runs.
The superintendent in charge of
this work is planning TO hitch some of
these plows to flushers and some of
them to what he calls "one-man
graders" which in fact are small trac-
tors. If plows are put out they should
be given a chance to work efficiently.
To drive through the snow and push
it aside these plows must be attached
to powerful 5 to 10 ton trucks-and
the Government has an abundant sup
ply of such trucks in Washington,
which would otherwise be idle after a
snow storm. A plow attached to a
powerful truck will probably do more
work in hours than it will in rs
hours attached to a small tractor.
Must Move Quickly.
One of the most important things
the street cleaning department must
be prepared for is to start promptly,
as the street car companies do and
fight the snow as it falls. The Dis
trict plows should trail behind the
street car plows and as they throw
the snow from their tracks the Dis
trict plows should scoop 1t further
back toward the cutters. If the su-
perintendent of street cleaning work,
after conferences with street railway
officials, figures that IL plows can
cover the street car routes-then
three banks of plows, one overlap
ping the other, ought to be able TO
push the snow back almost to the
cutters and give an open roadway for
.raffic.
If the snow is pushed back as it
falls, there need never be any snow
Jams or blockading of our streets.
1t is the actual removal of the snow
after a storm that has been expensive
which ii was estimated by the bust