Evening star., 1934-08-08
Rerouting Plans,

Utilities Commission, submits three
alternative rerouting proposals. 1t Is
TO be remembered that the street car
company and the National Park and
Planning Commission are yet to SUBJ
NIT their ideas OF what should be
done. Extensive criticism OF the
Beeler plan Is therefore premature.
1t is probable that the final rerouting
plan approved by the Paolic Utilities
Commission will combine the good and
generally approved features OF all the
plans.
Mr.. Beelers plan, which strikes one
as being good on the whole. is inter-
esting In its proposed abandonment
Of an extraordinarily large amount of
trackage, with busses substituted for
the street cars. And in the proposed
treatment OF tracks In downtown
Washington-aimed at getting rid Of
the four parallel tracks on New York
avenue between Fourteenth and
Fifteenth, and on Fourteenth between
New York avenue and H street.-the
plan affords an excellent illust alton
of how dif1cult 1t Is to do the obvious
ly sensible thing.
In connection with the proposed
abandonment Of trackage a large
increase In the number OF busses
must, OF course, be assumed. If the
plan to abandon the p street line to
Georgetown is adopted, for instance,
section OF that community will be
practically dependent on busses, with
out the choice. as in the past. be-
tween Burleith buses and street
cars. In such cases as the Chevy
Chase line, abandonment of the
tracks in Maryland beyond the circle
should certainly be accompanied by
program Of thorough Improvement
Of tracks on Connecticut Avenue on
the District side Of the circle, as
long as these tracks are to be re-
tanned.
Two of Mr.. Beeler's plans for get
ting rid Of the four-track situation
on New York avenue and Fourteenth
street contemplate extension Of the
r street line to Fifteenth and ex-
tending the Fifteenth street tracks
north of New York avenue to H
street. Mount Pleasant cars would
run up Fifteenth street from F to H
instead Of running up Fourteenth
street as at present. An alternative
plan is to run tracks from F up Thir-
teenth to H. While the aim of such
changes is obviously desirable, natu-
raj opposition can be expected to both
plans In the one case, Fifteenth
street between New York avenue and
H is rather narrow and is already
highly congested. Thirteenth street,
on the other hand, is one of the few
unobstructed automobile traffic arter-
les permitting direct access to down.
town Washington from the Northwest.
In the same way, the unorthodox
turn that street cars make at Four
teenth and Pennsylvania avenue into
E street, eastbound, should properly
be eliminated, along with the tracks
on E street. But the substitute turn
into Pennsylvania avenue from Four
teenth street, when used by an in
creased number of street cars, will
tend to perpetuate q traffic hazard at
one of the city's busiest corners.
The trAckage change at Dupont
Circle is one improvement on which
there should be little disagreement.
The change should have been made
years ago, and should not be neces-
sarily contingent on abandonment Of
the P street tracks.
Rerouting plans, which change
riding habits Of a generation, are
| always controversial. and some of
them necessarily propose the Substi-
tuition Of another nuisance for the
one that is removed. The Public
Utilities Commission is wise in DER
mitting plenty of time for careful
study and consideration of the vari-
Gus plans before making up its mind
as to which of the proposed features
it will adopt.