Evening star., 1934-09-13
VAN DUzER SAYS
REROUT|NG PLANS
RETARD VEHICLES
Traffic Director Tells Utili-
lies Commission 0biec-.
tions to New Turns. /.
BUSY INTERSECTIONS
REVEALED BY MAPS
Connecticut, Pennsylvania and
Many Other Thoroughfares Said
ID Have All They Can Handle.

I'd Have All They Can handle.
All Of the street car rerouting plans
offered. by John A. Beeler would re-
suit i'll slowing down Washington's
vchicular trafic, according to testi-
nony offered today by Traffic Director
william "A. Van .Duzer at public hear
ings on ,rerouting. plans before the
Public Utilities Commission.
Van Duzer directed his criticism at
the number Of new turns to be made
by street cars In all the plans. He
said that plan introduced 23 new
turris and eliminated 13 old turns. an
INCREASE of 10. The identical figures
are true for plan q, he said, and In
plan 3 there are 20 new turns in
stalled and Is old turns eliminated,
leaving net increase Of z turns.
Time for Car Turns.
Illustrating the effects of turns BY
street cars on vehicular traffic, Van
Duzer estimated that 1t takes ga Sec
cnds for D street car to make right
turn and IL seconds to make q left
turn at 70 turning speed Of 5 miles
per hour.
II street cars are to turn south into
Fifteenth street out Of H street rs
proposed In plans and 3 at the rate
of 20 cars per hour. this would delay
vehicular trafiic by 100 per hour. or
0 per cent, Van Du1er said. Literally,
cars going north on Fifteenth street
and turning left into n street would
cause y delay Of 220 seconds per hour.
or IL per cent.
vanl Duser introduced numerous
trafac Afiow maps showing conditions
on al u the busiest intersections In
1881 md 1882. He said that the 1881
figures should be increased BY 20 per
cent and the 1882 figures BY Is per
cent 70 reflect conditions Of today.
Trafic at Maximum.
Hesibted Connecticut avenue, Penn
sylya1lla avenue, Seventeenth, Six
teenth, Fifteenth, Fourteenth, Thir-
teenth and Eleventh streets, Massa-
chusoffs avenue, x, I and H streets,
New xpfk avenue. @, r and = streets
and Reconstruction avenue as now
carrytGg IN the trafiic they can bear
IN peak hours.
Van Duzer said the taxicab problem
was particularly acute In Washington.
He said that throughout the congested
section between as and so per cent
OF the vehicular trafic consists Of
taxicAhs and that only about third
of thu taxicabs carry passengers.
A count Of vehicles entering the
congested district In the morning
shows that 28 per cent Of them are
taxicabs. More than half Of them are
empty.
Another count showing the reverse
movement out of the congested dis
trict In the afternoon still shows %
per cent Of the vehicular traffic to be
taxicat3s, more than half Of them still
unloaded.
washington has an enormous pro-
portion Of persons entering the con-
gested section who ride In private
automobiles, he said. The number is
4646 per cent as against 12.9 per cent
for Baltimore. l0.1 per cent for De-
troit, ST per cent for Philadelphia
and a. per cent for Chicago.
Heavy Pedestrian TRAFFIC.
Beeler plan proposed to bring
Mount Pleasant cars down new track
in Thirteenth street to r street, max
ing q left turn into F. Van Duzer
said that the intersection OF Thir-
teenth and r streets Is the one most
heavily used by pedestrian trafic IN
the city. So heavy was this trafic,
amounting to S,507 persons per peak
hour, that it, was found necessary
some months ago to prohibit all turns
at this intersection by vehicular traf-
nc.
Van p,izer introduced the first OBJ
lection to laying track around the
east side Of Dupont Circle for north
bound cars on Conpecticut avenue.
He said:
"The elimination of the street car
tracks on p street from Dupont Circle
to Georgetown would help the situa-
ton at Dupont Circle. While 1t is
desirable to eliminate northbound
movement of street cars on the west
side Of Dupont Circle, we are not in
favor Of the construction Of any ad-
ditionai track upon any circle In the
District"
Van Duzer suggested construction
Of pedestrian underpasses at Thir-
teenth and F streets, Fourteenth and
r streets and Fifteenth street and
Pennsylvania avenue.
He opposed putting in the tracks
on Fifteenth street south Of H street
unless the street is widened to 10 feet.
Its present width Is SO feet.
Fred A. Emery objected to bus
line, proposed In the Beeler report,
which would come In from Maryland
by way of Chevy Chase Circle south
on Connecticut avenue and make but
one stop in Chevy Chase at Mckinley
street
He said this stop would mean service
only 10 a limited number OF CneVy
Chase residents He also opposed any
move to abolish the present de luxe
town washington.
Rush- Hour Track Needs.
At yesterday afternoons session the
commission received a taste Of the
change in the trackage system. Be-
|
Of ouadruple tracks in New York ave-
nue., between Fourteenth and Fiji
teenth streets. and on Fourteenth
street, between H street and New
York avenue. additional trackage mus
be built somewhere in the neigh.
borhood to accommodate the equip.
uent during rush hours. which Is nov
UP to capacity on Fourteenth stree
south OF H street.
There are two propositions for doini
this. One would build tracks in r
street from Fourteenth to Thirteenth
and down Thirteenth to r street, tn,
other to build tracks down Fifteenth
street from H street to New Yori
avenue.
The nrst proposal was bitterly a.
sailed by representatives Of 0eorg
washington University Hospital an