Evening star., 1925-09-20
We Must Have Good Streets.

We Must Have Good Streets.
The Star is irrevocably determined
that the streets of the National Capt.
tai must be at least as good as, if not
better than, the streets of any city or
State in the Union, and that these
streets must be constantly maintained
in first-class condition. The Star well
comes and solicits the cooperation Of
all civic leaders and organizations,
business men and their associations in
a. persistent drive on the municipal Of
fcials and the Federal authorities. in
cluding the Budget Bureau and Con-
gress, until this purpose is achieved.
During the past week The Star has
published 4 series of articles, ba aSed
on months of investigation and con-
ference with the best authorities,
showing in a logical and systematic
way just what the conditions are re-
garding the streets of the Nations
Capital largely because repair work
was so long held up during and after
the war. Today The Star prints the
concluding article in this series, sum-
marking the principal things to be
done to correct the situation.
These articles have shown % that
large majority of our streets are
'outlawed" by age, worn out, having
been in use up to a score of years be-
yond the normal life Of streets of
similar construction; (2) that periodi-
cally a strain comes on our streets,
which must cause serious deteriora-
ton, so that 1.-The worst is vet to
come; (3 that there is bitter con-
troversy as to whether the best sur
facing material is being used; a. that
heretofore very serious damage to the
streets. which shortens their life and
causes incalculable loss to business
men and to owners of trucks, automo-
biles and other vehicles and unneces-
sary inconvenience to all residents of
the city. has been inflicted by the in
efficient way in which heavy snow
storms have been allowed to block our
streets; (5) that, while the gasoline tax
fund has been used to resurface some
twenty of the principally Travelled
thoroughfares, Washington is still
more than 100000 square yards of re-
surfacing in arrears. most of which
should have been done years ago. and
with a constantly increa sing area of
street surface. due to the intensive
home building since the war.
In outlining today the program that
must be followed to bring the streets
of the Capital City into proper condi-
ton, The Star points out: a That in
building new streets and in rebuilding
unimproved streets they must be built
strong enough to stand the strain of
modern traffic, with the heavy legal
axle load; (2) that as rapidly as pos
sible we must catch up on our ac-
cumulated deficiency of resurfacing,
the total cost of which, if done right
now, would be upward of SO, 600. 900,
and (3) that We must continue on an
increasingly large scale the widening
and repaving of our principal business
and thoroughfare streets, to make
them large enough and strong enough
to meet the tremendous increase in
volume and strain of present-day
traffic
Particular emphasis is given to the
need for a more sensible and efficient
method Of keeping our streets open
during and after a heavy snowstorm.
in the interests of economy, public
service and preserving the integrity
OF our street structure. Heretofore
the District officials in charge of this
work have stressed the minor and
more expensive task Of removing the
snow after 1t has fallen and piled up
rather than the relatively inexpensive
duty of keeping the roads broke" for
traffic.
There are two distinct phases Of the
street problem caused by a blizzard in
Washington: ID Flowing the snow to-
ward the cutters as it falls so as to al
low traffic to move, and ~ getting
rid of the piled-up snow after a storm
The Star stresses the importance of
the former, while the District officials
have heretofore devoted themselves
almost exclusively to the latter.
Scrapers to be attached to heavy
trucks cost very little, and the Dis
trict, with Winter coming on, and
with an average Of three to six snow
storms a Winter, ought to have on
hand a sufficient number of these
scrapers. Last year there were 20,
and this year there are %, while a
committee of business men and Dis
trict officials, called together by the
Engineer Commissioner recommend
ed after an extensive study that there
ought to be at least 35 plows ready
for work. This is an illustration Of
the short-sighted economy that re-
suits in larger eventual expenditure.
Now is the time to be preparing for
the Winter storms.
The Star urges every citizen, and
District official, and member of Con-
gress to read this series of articles,
and then to help The Star in it's cam
paign to get good streets, efficiently
maintained, which are SO urgently
needed here to meet modern traffic
conditions.