Evening star., 1933-01-11
MEMORIAL BRIDGE
PROJECT SPEEDED
Broad Outline of Imposing
Work to Be Finished
Next Month.

delays, the broad outline Of the whole
Arlington Memorial Bridge project will
be completed. with the opening of the
new Memorial avenue from the Bound
airy Channel Bridge up to the east wall
Of Arlington National Cemetery. The
imposing memorial entrance, forming
the western terminus of the ambitious
program, likewise will be finished.
officials estimate about $4,000
more will be required to bring the prof.
ect to completion. Remaining yet to
be accomplished are the improvement
of Constitution avenue from the Senate
Office Building to near the Lincoln
Memorial and the establishment of
Columbia Island, where the Mount
Vernon Memorial Highway begins.
Property Owned by United States.
The improvements, while In Virginia,
are being carried out on Federal
owned property.
The Memorial avenue and the Memo
rial entrance were included in the orig
inal estimates for the program, officials
explained today. This new develop
National Cemetery closer to Washing
ton. 1t will link together the Capitol.
the Washington Monument. the Lincoln
Memorial, the Arlington Memorial
Bridge and Arlington Cemetery, they
added.
The Memorial entrance itself, ex-
elusive of paving, will cost 100000.
The paving now in progress on the
Memorial avenue from the Boundary
Channel Bridge to Arlington Cemetery,
presents surfacing of concrete pave
ment, in which granite chips are used
instead Of ordinary gravel. The color
is to be pink, the same as that on the
bridge paving The same bush-ham-
mered granite curbs as exist on the
bridge are duplicated on the Memorial
avenue up to the cemetery. This phase
Of the project will cost $4,000.
The Memorial avenue is so feet wide
and will have six lanes of traffic, marked
off by concrete blocks. The southern
half Of the new highway is now opened
to traffic
Railroad Depressed.
The Rosslyn branch of the Pennsyl-
vania Railroad used to cross a grade
in the line Of the bridge project. To
eliminate this, the railroad was de-
pIGoSCu ny 90 4CCb dllo 11OW PcooCo ullQCI
the avenue, with little sign that rail-
road is nearby. Oak trees will be so
spaced that the effect will not be dis
turbed by the railroad tunnel.
The main structure of the Memorial
entrance consists essentially Of gran
ite-faced retaining wall, set into the
natural hillside of the cemetery and
constituting the formal terminus at
the west end Of the Memorial avenue.
The principal part of the structure
consists of hemicycle, at the center
of which Is located the central niche,
forming the eliminating point Of the
composition, the officials explain. In
each Of the quadrantal wings Of the
hemicycle are small elliptical inches
for appropriately sculptured pieces.
Flanking the hemicycle on both sides
are the terrace walls, which extend
at right angles to the axis of the ave-
nue.. Each of these walls terminates
in a wing wall, by means of which
the entire structure Is made to merge
naturally into the hillside.
Pylons Are Impressive.
The foreground of the composition
consists of six pylons, approximately
the same size and of exactly the same
design as those on the west end of the
two for the roadway, leading to the
| north, over which visitor is finally
| conducted to Arlington House, and two
for the roadway leading to the south,
which points the way to the Amphi-
| theater, where rests the Unknown Sol
dier.
The four pylons are surmounted by
elaborately carved urns, while the four
gateways will have eagles atop.
Roadways will fork from the Me-
| mortal avenue, where it reaches the
Memorial entrance, north and south.
The roads in the cemetery, joining with
| the Memorial avenue, have already
been built by the War Department.
Connection Is scheduled to be made the
coming month.
The parapet for the retaining wall
system consists of granite balustrade,
matching in detail the balustrade on
! the bridge. The hemicycle wall Is 80
/ feet high, from the grade of the Me-
mortal avenue at the lower level to the
grade of the promenade behind the wall
at the upper level. This promenade fur
J nishes an elevated view Of Memorial
avenue, the Memorial Bridge and the
Lincoln Memorial. Granite steps lead
from the lower level to the wing walls.
From north to south, the overall length
of the Memorial entrance is 460 feet.
Care Brings Results.
The granite, largely from Mount Airy,
N. c., is used in the memorial en-
trance. The granite for the pylons is
from Mount Waldo, Me-, the engineers
explaining that this matches the color
of the granite from North Carolina.
The officials say that the work on
the $14,750,000 Arlington Memorial
Fridge Y,roiect has pone along accord-
ing to schedule, as the appropriations
became available. There has been no
request for a deficiency fund, and al
though there Is $1,500,000 worth of
granite in the project. 1t has not been
necessary to replace a nickle's worth
of 1t through error in mathematical
calculation. The remarkable part of
it is, the officials point out, is that
there are no two stones exactly alike