Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-14
Regional Committee Unani-
nous for Undertaking Like
CIeveIand'S and Chicago's.
ROADBED OFFERED
FOR HIGHWAY PARK
Arlington Fairfax Railroad Makes
john Marshall Boulevard
Proposal.

A general traffic survey of the whole
Washington region within 90 miles of
the National Capital has been unani-
| mously approved by the Regional
Highway Committee, which comprises
representatives of the Federal and Dis
trict governments and the nearby coun-
ties of Maryland and Virginia, it was
made known today.
If the various authorities in nearby
counties of Maryland and Virginia
and the State Highway Commission
together with the District government
and the National Park and Planning
Commission, approve of the idea, and
if funds are made available from these
sources, the survey will soon be under
taken by the Bureau of Roads of the
Agricultural Department.
The proposal for the survey was
| made by Chief Thomas H. Macdonald
of the Bureau of Public Roads, who is
also chairman of the Regional High
way Committee, when the committee
met there yesterday.
The counties represented were Mont
gomery and Prince Georges, in Mary
land, and Arlington and Fairfax, in Vir-
ginia. The City of Alexandria, Va, was
also consulted through its representa-
tives. There was no opposition to the
plan for the survey.
Similar Survey Made.
If 1t is undertaken, the survey will
be along the lines conducted by the
| Buerau of Roads in the region of Chi
| cago, in 1925, and of Cleveland, in 1927.
Besides the nearby counties of Mary
| land and Virginia and the District gov
eminent, there will have TO be consult
ed the two State highway commissions
of Maryland and Virginia as we'll as
| the National Capital Park and Planning
4 nYl1iS a decision
| is made and arrangements are made for
| meeting the cost.
Charles w. Eliot, I'd, director of plan
ming for the National Capital Park and
Planning Commission, will consult the
officials of the Bureau of Public Roads
regarding the expense OF the work to be
done and its cost within short time
and that will be a determining factor
| in the decision as to whether the rec
commended survey will be made.
| At yesterdays meeting also the Ar
lington & Fairfax Railroad Co., through
its president, Henry c. Church, offered
its right Of way through the populous
section of Arlington County and as
far as Fairfax, in Fairfax County, Va,
for the construction of the John Mar
shall Highway, which would connect
the National Capital with the Front
Royal entrance to the Shenandoah Ma
| tional Park.
| MAJ CnurCn mace MS proposal ouH-
| ing a conference between spokesman
| for the John Marshall Highway and
the Bridge Associations
with the committee.
To Abandon Line.
In making his offer known, Mr.
Church declared that the right of way,
which would permit the construction
of 20-foot roadway on each side of
the Arlington g. Fairfax Railroad tracks,
| would cost the State nothing. At the
same time, he admitted his company's
anticipation of the early abandonment
| of electric tracks in favor of motor
buses, and he told the Regional High
| way Committee that a petition already
had been made by his company for the
/ operation of buses over the route now
| followed by its trains.
| Arthur Orr, spokesman for the
| Bridge Association, who
| spoke before Mr.. Church, advised the
Regional Highway Committee of the
railroads Willingness to grant the use
of its right-of-Way for the John Mar
shall Highway. He told the committee
| that the tentative plan called for the
| construction of the roadway on both
SIDES of the company's tracks and the
erection of trolley poles in the center
of the roadway similar to the practice
on Connecticut avenue through Cleve-
land Park and Chevy Chase. He cited
| the ultimate abandonment of electric
trains In favor of buses and decl&Eed
that in event of such a development the
tracks and poles would be eliminated
entirely, giving way to a broad, clean
boulevard. In his address to the COM
mittee, Mr.. Orr stressed the necessity
of highway of generous width con-
Meeting the Capital with the Shenan-
| doah Valley National Park. The value
| of the Arlington-FairfaX Rail-oad Co.'S
! offer, he told The Star following the
! conference, lay in the fact that the
concerns rightrof-way is the only po-
| tential boulevard of adequate width
! traversing the thickly settled sections
| through which the proposed highway
| would pass. The existing streets and
roads, he said. are entirely too narrow
for the construction Of the highway
| without terrific cost in buying up and
clearing improved properties.
Hugh E. Naylor, president of the John
Marshall Highway Association, also ad-
dressed the committee. His was an APP
peal for the appreciation of the neces-
sity of building an adequate boulevard
approach to the Shenandoah Valley Park
via Front Royal. The boulevard, which,
he pleaded, should be named for John
Marshall. famed interpreter of the
Constitution. would be 70 miles in
length, he said.