Evening star., 1933-06-25
In the Motor World
BY G. ADAMS HOWARD.

~ ECOGNIZ1NG a demand Tor one
way streets running north and
~ south through the city, as
i pointed out IN these columns
some time ago, William A. Van
Duzer, traffic director. has prepared a
worthy argument in favor of such a
plan.
According to Mr.. Van Duzer, the par
amount factors in contemplation Of
new one-way streets lie in the actual
physical layout, traffic hazards, and
obstacles to an even flow presented
b. the existing twoway street. In
this regard he says, it would be mad
visable if the number of accidents will
so increase or the capacity so decrease
that the street becomes either menace
or practically useless
Study Prepared.
Therefore a study has been made Of
the aforementioned factors and their
relation to Eighteenth and Nineteenth
streets northwest from Virginia avenue
to Pennsylvania avenue. Both Eight
eenth and Nineteenth are 35 feet in
width from Virginia aven''o to E street.
1t has been noted that lc~ser vehicles
cannot pass a street car on a street
35 feet in width. Parking limitations
would cure this ILL., but they would
have to be mo Parking at Any Time"
thereby eliminating a large amount Of
valuable parking space. According to
the survey made it would be far bet
ter to prevent the said conflict and
still retain the parking area by max
ing these streets one way in the direc-
tion of the street car movement.
In the matter of safety it is inter-
Ef fn nyD1fN M 70 on 0F
accidents on tWO-way and one-way
streets over a period of time, accord
ing to Traffic Bureau figures. AS the
best comparison. @ and R streets, one
way, and S and T streets, tWo-way,
are chosen. Q and R streets were made
One-way. east and west. respectively.
by order Of the Commissioners dated
January 10, 1882. It was found that
accidents decreased after these streets
were made one-way. and were less than
those on S and T A.reets over the same
period of time While the differences
were not great. it is held that they are
indicative of a tendency toward safety
and better driving conditions On the
one-way street there is no traffic in
the opposite direction, giving greater
ease in driving; there are. at inter
sections. no turning movements bv
traffic in the opposite direction, per-
mitting the driver to give greater at
tention to cross traffic: and at night,
especially on rainy nights. there is no
glare from approaching headlights, CIV
ing more safety. ease and comfort in
operation
At stores and business houses trucks
habituallv double park to load and to
unload With double parking on one
way streets q lane is always kept open
in the direction of traffic flow still per-
mitting freedom Of traffic movement,
while on tWo-way streets a hazard is
created and freedom of movement is
very much reduced because of two
streams Of traffic moving in opposite
directions having to use the same lane
One hazard, however. is created on
one-way streets which two-way streets
do not have; that is, a person parked
on the left side of a one-way street
has no means of warning approaching
cars of his intention to pull out from
the curb.
Capacity of Streets.
In the ma tier of street capacity it
war found that an average Of AZ more
cars per holr in both directions was
carried en- two-way streets than on one
way streets in one direction. This diff
ference Is not neIO 10 De great ana
really does not show that one-way
streets have greater carrying capacity
or are used to a greater extent. The
difference may be due to different
neighhorhoods
r street carried more traffic than T
street at two intersections and more
than S at one. Q street carried more
traffic than T street at five intersec-
tions and more than s at three. Higher
but legal speed limits were found on
orc-Way streets.
In summing up the situation. Mr..
Van Duzer is Of the opinion that ca
pacity will actually increase on Eight
eenth and Nineteenth streets if they are
made one way.
These streets, he states, should be
made one way to make use of the
greater capacity, to eliminate congestion
during rush hours, to eliminate accident
potentialities CT the present two-way
operation. to speed up street car and
automobile movement. to prevent con-
flicts of passing vehicles, and to con-
serve vast amount of parking area