Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-10-12
VIEW HIGH SPEED
ROUTE TO GOTHAM
Engineers Hope to Overcome
Opposition in PhiIa-
delphia.

ngCon Is IN the making, and may be
put in use within a couple of years II
who reside along Philadelphia's famed
main line" do not succeed in spiking
the move to detour through traffic
around the City Of Brotherly Love.
With the Baltimore Washington
Boulevard nearing completion, provid-
ing four-lane, high-speed thorough
fare between the two cities, and with
the Newark-Jersey City viaduct leading
direct to the entrance to the Holland
Tunnel, the foundation has been well
laid for a high-speed road from the
Nations Capital to the Nations largest
city, which will avoid the tedious,
troublesome business of travelling
through large centers Of population. It
now Is proposed to route through traffic
around Philadelphia and avoid that
tiresome ride up Broad street and out
the Roosevelt Boulevard. II that re-
routing of traffic is contaminated, as
hoped, the only remaining obstacle in
o high-speed boulevard from Washing
ton to New York will be a route around
Baltimore, and that Is already being
talked Of.
Opposition Raised.
But I'D In Philadelphia q group Of
citizens of Pennsylvania, headed by
Samuel M. Vauclain, the master sales
man" and president Of the Baldwin
Locomotive Works, is seeking to spike
the plans Of the engineers who would
route traffic around Philadelphia, claim
ing that their extensive and expensive
main line estates will be considerably
highway travels right through their
back yards. They have called on Gov.
Fisher at Harrisburg, seeking his sup
port In the move to kill the Phila-
delphia cutoff, and intend, they say,
to fight to Q finish the devastation"
Of their extended estates.
Early last Summer engineers Of the
State Highway Department Of Pennsyl-
vania appeared In the vicinity of the
exclusive homes and palatial estates
that dot the main line Ardmore-Bryn
Mawr neighborhood and drove survey
ing stakes into the ground to mark of
the proposed belt line, which would
divert traflc from the South to the
North out Of the City Of Philadelphia
proper The road Is being objected to
for three reasons. First, the proposed
highway would cut through stretch
Of country which has value Of any
where from $4,000 to 5000 an acre
and would make many valuable estates
lose their value.
Opponents of the roadway have
pointed out that the cost of condemn
Ing the property would be far too much
to justify the expenditure on the
last objection seems the most logical
one. This Is that the Vauclain Com
mittee has pointed out that there now
are In existence several improved roads
which could be used for the proposed
belt line and would serve the purpose.
Two Alternate Routes.
Two alternate routes have been
mapped out by the engineers. One
would swing southwark from the tip Of
Hatboro, through Amber and Arlington
across the Schuylkill below Consho-
hocken and then on to Sproul road.
The other would cut in at Bryn
Athyn, go through Jenkintown and
Abingdon, then cut across City Line
paths Of the two roads are the estates
whose owners are up In arms over the
project.
Every motorist who has Travelled
North through Philadelphia knows how
tedious the trip through that city Is.
From Sfxty-ninth street, where the
Conowingo road meets the city proper,
the City Hall, and out Broad to the
Roosevelt Boulevard one must go right
through the heaviest traffic Of the city.
Or. coming In from the Philadelphia
road through Wilmington over Balti-
more avenue going North the same Is
true. In either case trafnc Of the
utmost density cannot be avoided. Some
cutoff from point about midway be-
tween Sixty-ninth and Chestnut and
the town of Media west Of the city
would vastly improve the situation so
far as the through traveller by motor is
concerned. When man is out on the
highway, travelling against time, he
wants to 60 somewhere in q hurry and
does not care for the halts and delays
that always follow any point where
traffic congests.
The Philadelphia road at present is
the best Eastern roadway to Philadel-
pilia. But that takes the visitor from
Washington through Baltimore, VIII
mington and Chester and on that ac-
count Is not so good 1t Is better. how
ever, than the winding Conowtngo road,
with Its sharp turns It's narrow sur
face, and Its generally bunny condi-
through Wilmington and Chester but
does 60 through the small towns Of
oxford, Kennett Square and Media,
Pa, with their accompanying traffic.
Some day q roadway around the City
Of Baltimore will be built, and 1t would
not be such q hard job at that. There
Is ct present q way 70 get through
town neighborhood, either on to the
Philadelphia road or the Conowingo
road. This can be done by taking the
Ellicott City road through Franklin
town TO Pinlico, cutting through
Rodgers avenue In back Of Maryland'S
historic race track to Belvedere avenue
to Charles Street avenue, out the latter
thoroughfare "a continuance OF Balti-
more's famous Charles street, to Tow
son and through the Joppa road to
either the Conowingo road or the
Philadelphia road. It can be done, but
It Is not recommended for the motorist
who does not know his way around the
Monumental City.
Too much chance to get lost. Too
much INDIGESTION as to which road to
take BY the time the unfamiliar
motorist found his way through these
thoroughfares, he might as well have
gone down town TO FaySte street or
out North avenue through the trafflc, as
to lose time searching for roads Of
whose whereabouts he Is ignorant.
But sooner or later. Baltimore will
come to the same situation Philadelphia
Is coming to, If we take literally the
statement Of highway engineers that
the ultimate highway Of the future is
q four-lane, high-speed artery, with
practically no maximum speed limit
and which, above all, avoids ce1lters
OF population ana trafnc.
Ready for Connection.
The Baltimore Pike is ready for con-
nection with such a roadway now. The
Ellicott City Pike will shortly be in
that condition, for the shouldering work
now going on on that thoroughfare
Is making it a. potential high-speed
roadway. Such a roadway cut through
Franklintown and routed back Of Pim-
n.zA 81 nfft
roadway north to New York would solve
4t,a AifRc,,Itu and mould not raniiire