Evening star., 1926-12-03
HIGHWAY HEARINGS
|. co TO RICHMOND
Arlington County Hopes o.
|. Funds This Year Not
W, Encouraging.
BY Staff Correspondent of The Star


RICHMOND. Va. December 81
Hearings of the State Highway Com
mission on petit ons for road construc
ton and improvements from al of ths
counties, which were begun il
Roanoke Tuesday and continued il
charlottesville yesterday, were re
sumed here today. with the house
sold-out'' sign hanging from the door
almost before the meeting had con
vened.
The hearings today, which are eX
pected TO last long enough to insure
cold suppers for all. will end the com
missions field work. Whatever i'm
pressions the appeals of the people
themselves may have made upon the
appropriations that have already beer
fully studied by the commissioners
during the rest of the month. And
then available funds will be dis
tributed
1t seems moderately certain that
Tor the second successive year Airing
ton County will receive no financial
assistance from the State Highway
Commission. Despite the hurri@dly
arranged peace between the Lee Douie-
ward and straight to the-bridge
groups. and the oratoricai elouuence
torney William c. Cloth, few road au-
thorities present felt that the com
missioners would change .heir minds
about Arlington County.
Hearing for AZ Counties.
The commission is hearing delega-
tions from the counties in the Fred
ericksburg, Richmond and Suffolk
districts today. The three take in AZ
counties. Although none Of these
counties occupies position of cimilar
Importance to Washington as Airing
ton, the National Capital seems to be
the ultimate destination of every i'm
proved highway in Virginia, and sev-
eral projects are to be presented, it IS
understood, for giving certain com.
munities more direct access to the
big white city on the northern shores
OF the Potomac.
Never before in the history of Vir-
ginia has there been such a demon
stration for good roads" as was pre-
sented to the commission at Char
lottesville Yesterday. Long before 9
o'clock, when the first delegation was
to take the floor, every seat in the
courtroom, where the meeting was
held. was occupied, the aisles were
banked solid and the walls were lined
by shifting. neck k-craning, loudly ap-
plauding men and women
In the corridors of the courthouse
a. pushing, anxious line zig Jagged
from the door of the courtroom clear
outside the courthouse and for a full
half-block UP an astonished Char.
lottesville street. There they stood in
q biting wind for half the day, until
the commissioners, acquainted with
the situation. suggested that it might
be the polite thing for those who had
been in the hearing chamber for some
time TO surrender their places to those
who had not yet found even standing
room inside.
Delegations Are Many.
Represented in the crowd were the
counties Of Albemarle, Arlington, Gull
peper, Fairfax, Fauquier, F'luvanna,
Greene, Loudoun. Louisa, Madison.
Orange, Prince William, Rappahan-
mock. Allegheny, Augusta. Bath,
Clarke, Frederick. Highland. Page,
Rockbridge, Rockingham, Shenan-
doah. Warren, Amherst, Appomattox
Buckingham, Campbell, Charlotte,
Cumberland, Halifax. Nelson, Pitt
sylvania and Prince Edward.
The people of Allegheny County
alone sent a delegation of 125 of the
most prominent men in that section.
They hired a whole special train and
journeyed to Charlottesville to pray
with the commissioners to let no
pleas from elsewhere dissaude them
from their present plan to complete
the final l8-mile gap Of dirt road that
sewers the Midland Trail in the west
ern part of Virginia.
The commissioner provided for this
stretch III its tentative allocations,
but Allegheny County was SO afraid
some of its good neighbors might talk
the road officials out of the appropria.
tinn that they send their boosters to
consolidate the victory. Paving OF
the gap. it was declared. will complete
a. transcontinental highway that hi
sects the Nation and save Virginia
Bound tourists detour of several
hundred miles. 1t was predicted that
the increased traffic would aggregate
enough gas tax in a single year to
pay for the job
A project which attracted interest