Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-06
RICHIE FAVORS
WIDER BOULEVARD
$4,000, 900 Bill Recommend
ed to Provide Against
Road Congestion.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
BALTIMORE, January 5.-The Balti-
more and Washington Boulevard will be
widened to 60 feet, providing four lanes
Of traffic instead of two, for the entire
distance, if the Legislature passes
special loan bill Of $2,O0Oo0o which
it is believed, Gov Richie will recon-
mend.
The widening has been done for a
distance of miles north from
Laurel, paid for out of the regular
construction funds of the State roads
commission. but as the cost averages
over 100000 mile it is impossible to
widen more than or miles
a year unless the money is provided
through a special ct of the Legislature.
Gov. Richie in his message to the
Legislature this week called attention
to the rapidly growing congestion on
the Washington Boulevard and said the
improvement would have to be made
in the near future to prevent conges-
ton that would not only delay COM
munication between Baltimore and
Washington but become more dangerous
each year.
Problem in Road Width.
''The width of our main roads is
bound to become an acute problem be-
fore many years." said the governor.
Some of our roads are hardly wide
enough now to care for the increased
traffic. Within a relatively few years
many of the roads We have and are
building in all probability will be quite
inadequate and when it becomes neceS-
SAry to widen them appreciably the
State will be confronted with buildings
and Improvements close to the edges
which will have to be bought or con-
demned. Some plan ought soon to be
devised which will enable the State to
acquire necessary rights of way in the
future without what may be an almost
proi1ibitive cost.
1T is possible that this risk can be
obviated by the passage of legislation
providing that if improvements are
erected in the future upon land ad-
Jacent to highways which may be
needed for widening purposes, then
when the State actually needs such
land it may acquire it by paying only
the value of the land and nothing for
the improvements. This would serve to
put property holders on their guard
against building so close to the high
ways that the Improvements might
ultimately have to be condemned by
the State.
Perhaps some better plan than this
may be devised and am, of course, not
unmindful of the objections, constitu-
tlOnal and otherwise, which may be
raised to legislation of this kind It may
be little early yet for the matter to
be brought to a head, but we cannot
~ hi
struction without realizing that some
day serious consequences will be pre-
sented both to the State and to the
property holders if some appropriate
measures are not taken to meet the
problem of future road widening"
Bill to be Submitted.
A road construction bill will be sub
mitted to the Legislature providing for
State loan for post roads of 81 SOC, 600,
of which $750,000 will be issued this
Spring and $75o,0O0 in the Spring of
1880. The proceeds of this loan will
be used to match the Federal aid ex-
tended by the Government in the same
amount, so that $1,500,000 will be avail
able each year for the reconstruction
of post roads. No loan for lateral roads
will be submitted to the Legislature this
year because the entire expense of the
lateral road construction program is
now paid from the proceeds of the IL
cents gasoline tax for lateral road pur-
poses and likewise no loan for the elm
ination of railway grade crossings be-
cause the States share of this expense
is now paid from the proceeds of a
half-cent gasoline tax.
A special bill, however, will be SUBJ
mitted for state loan of 100000
for the construction of bridges in the
various counties of the State, which is
the same amount the Legislature of
1927 provided for the same purpose.
Work on the viaduct at HyattSville,
which will eliminate the Baltimore &
Ohio Railroad crossing on the Wash
ington Boulevard, will be started. this
Spring as well as construction of the
extension of Rhode Island avenue to
connect with the Washington Boule-
ward, which will give two entrances into
the District Of Columbia, one by way
of Bladensburg and the other by way
of Rhode Island avenue.