Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1926-10-20

NV dear -hE. hooS4tss
Your letter of the goth inst. on
-ha above named subject. has been
raeeived. It is noted therefrom That
ION understood from my letter of re-
Int date that we had never received
a-vthing from Mr. Shirley in connec-
-sep with the subject. As you will
recall. on June 18th, you requested
that Mr.. Gray be authorized to go to
Richmond TO appear before the Vir-
g;nia Highway Commission with a
DELEGATION from Loudoun County,
Virginia, in an endeavor to have the
Virginia section of the road con-
structed. | replied under date of
June 10th that it would not be policy
for the Commission to have one of
It's engineers attend such a confer
ence. in view of the correspondence
passing between this Office and Mr..
Shirley. For your information,
quote below excerpts from the cor
respondence referred to in my letter
Of June 10th, viz:
From letter of April 5th, address
ed to Mr.. Shirley:
1T is the intention of this Com
mission to improve this route to the
Virginia line by hard surfacing the
remaining SIS miles and constructing
bridge over the Shenandoah River
near Bloomery. This road will con-
north of Wheatland in Loundoun
County. leading to Hillsboro. 1t is
requested that we be advised if it be
the intention of YOUR Commission to
designate the county road to Hills
boro as a part of your state system
and if so, what is the present pros
pect of improvements being made
thereon"
From Mr.. Shirley's reply of April
6, 1926:
"The road leading from Hillsboro
to Purcellville is a State Aid road
and is maintained by the State and
county. All the mileage that can
be added to the State Highway Sys-
tenn for 1926 has been allocated and
this section of road was not includ-
ed. 1t will be some time in my
Judgment before this connection be-
comes a State highway"
From letter addressed to Mr.. Shir-
ley. under date of April Sth, 1926:
1T will aid very materially in
our decision with regard to the inn
Drovements contemplated in West
Virginia, if you could advise US as
to the probable future development
along this line, that is, as to the
probability of the road being taken
over by the State at some time in
the future. should West Virginia i'm
prove its system to the state line
from Charles Town"
From Mr.. Shirley's reply of April
9th:
The mileage for 1926 has been
added but what the Commission will
do in 1927 | am unable to advise
you, although they will have to add
to the System this same highway
from Leesburg southeast to almost
Washington and it is my judgment
that this will be done before the
spur from the top of the mountain
via Hillsboro and Purcellville, is put
in.
From the top of the mountain to
where your project would stop to
Purcellville is about 9 miles, this is
the portion that would have to be
added to give you a State Highway
connection.
The section of road. however,
from Purcellville to Hillsboro is &
State Aid road and in very good con.
dition. believe if the matter was
taken up with the county l think
they could get the section from
Hlllsboro to the top of the mountain
placed in the State Aid System"
From letter in reply to above, ad
dressed to Mr.. Shirley, under date
of April 18th, 1926:
Permit me to thank you most
heartily for your letter Of the 9th
on the above subject, with regard
10 the connection at the top of Blue
Ridge Mountains leading to Charlie:
Town. | am of the opinion that thi:
commission will be in position to I'M
dertake the improvement con-
templated within the near future"
1t is true that this Commission
mas not requested the Virginia Com
mission to designate as a part of tht
State System the portion of road
way in Loudoun County: such a re
quest would not have appeared adj
Ylsable in view of Mr.. Shirley's let
ters on the subject. The work con
templated in this state will be done
put it was thought advisable first tt
learn from Virginia whether or not
was any IIhelIHoOQ OF con
nnection. being made with our read
Certainly, the provisions of the Con
Stitutional Amendment and of the
Road Law would OF have been car
red out, had the Road Commission
OF West Virginia designated as &
part of the State system the road Il
the Virginia line with no provision
Tor connection in that state.
The plans for the bridge are about
completed and when everything is il
readiness, the structure will be adj
yyertised for letting. The funds OF
hand and available at the present
time will hardly permit of the con
struction of the bridge and the i'm
provement of the road also. There
lore, it is possible that the road can
not be improved until some time il
the future after funds shall have
been made available for road con
struction purposes.
1t is believed that the interested
parties in Loudoun County, Virginia
should petition the Virginia High