Evening star., 1934-12-17
CAPITAL PROJECTS
STUDIED FOR.USE
Of ?. v. A. FUNDS
Municipal Center and Ana
costa Stadium Listed
Among Most Worthy.
FAIRGROUNDS GIVEN
POSITION OF MERIT
Improvement of Water Front and
Memorial Parkway Also Get
Consideration.


With prospects of a new public
works program in the ofing, Govern
ment officials interested in local de-
velopment, including those of the
National Capital Park and Planning
Commission, today took an inventory
to determine where funds could
beneflcially be spent in the city and
its environs.
Foremost among the projects, in
the minds Of District officials, Is the
Municipal Center, long planned foT
erection at Pennsylvania avenue and
John Marshall place. Nathan C.
Wyeth, municipal architect, said to-
day he is revising plans and space
occupancy for the new center. This
study is expected to take two or three
weeks longer and the program will be
laid before the Fine Arts Commits
sion and the National Capital Park
and Planning Commission. The Dis
trict government has already acquired
the land, at cost of sc, 500, ,000 Land
and buildings for the Municipal Cen
ter, said Wyeth. would cost $25, 900, ,000
eventually, but he made it clear this
would be distributed over 50year
program. The first building unit
would cost s5,000,000.
Need Seen for Stadium.
Another need here seen by the
planners is that for an adequate sta
dium, which is being projected on
the banks of the AnacoStia River at
the end of East Capitol street. This
Is visualized as a self -liquidating
project, on which Civilian 'Conserva-
ton Corps men could do the funda-
mental work. The United States
owns all the ground-103 acres. If
necessary, officials asserted, portable
seats could be utilized at the outset
and the program developed gradually.
Development of Anacostia Park by
the United States Engineer Office is
also favored.
The Public Works Administration
has allocated $4,000 for a study for
the stadium program and this is being
undertaken by the National Park Serv-
ice of the Interior Department. 1t is
proposed to incorporate in the stadium
development suitable armory for the
District National Guard, now made
quately housed. In conjunction with
the stadium, authorities said, tennis
courts, swimming, ice skating and
other forms of sport could be afforded.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars
could be spent with merit in providing
suitable playground facilities in vari-
Gus sections of the city, on land which
is totally or partially in Government
ownership now. officials declared. This
category includes the Phoebe Hearst
Playground, the Sherwood Playground
in the northeast, to replace that taken
away in the Union Station Plaza de-
velopment, and the Takoma and Ban
neker Recreation Centers, as well as
smaller projects, scattered over the
city.
Parkway Held MeritoriOus.
Another meritorious public works
program is seen by the planners in
the George Washington Memorial
Parkway, which will run southwark
from Great Falls to Mount Vernon,
Va, and Fort Washington, Md. Land
purchases are required in the upper
reaches. particularly along the Mary
land and Virginia shores, and addi-
tional funds are needed for the con-
struction of suitable highways.
The Fort drive-an ambitious pro-
gram that has received Endorsement of
the Planning Commissioners another
project calling for the expenditure
of funds here The Government has
now acquired the land for most Of
this, but highway development, to link
up the string OF old Civil War forts
encircling Washington, and proper
landscaping are required.
Construction Of an underpass at
Massachusetts, avenue in the Rock
Creek and Potomac Parkway, to
straighten out the dangerous traffic
kink at that point, is also needed,
say the officials.
The building of a new bridge to
replace the present dilapidated Chain
Bridge over the Potomac River is
another pressing need, in the opinion
of civil leaders. This would fit in
with the Atlantic Coastal Highway,
running down the seaboard from Bos-
ton to Florida. In this section the
highway would be known as the
Marva Highway and is designed to
run from Ellicott City, Md, to Rich
mond, Va.
Would Clean Up Creek.
Cleaning up the pollution in Rock
Greek is another project on which
funds could profitably be spent at
this time, in the opinion of the au-
thorities. While study is now in
progress, what Is really needed, they
declared. is construction of the neces-
sary relief sewers.
Improvement of the Washington
Channel water front to remove the
eyesores there is another worthy
project that we'll might merit the at
tention of the Public Works Admins
tration, said officials The district
engineer for the War Department for
the Washington area and the chief
of Army engineers have long since
submitted a report on this, favoring
the development, together with de-
tailed plans showing how 1t can be
accomplished.
Grade crossing elimination in the
District, such as that existing at
Michigan avenue, near Catholic Uni
versity, is another problem that can
well be aided by public funds at this
time, said planning authorities.
A bypass highway around Alex
andria, Va, connecting with Arling-
ton Memorial Bridge, across the
experimental farm of the Depart
nient Of Agriculture, is yet another
project on which the planners have
expended thought and energy. This
they would like to see accomplished.
A terminal yard crossing, over the
railroad tracks in the vicinity of
Fourteenth street northeast, extended,
is likewise subject for public works
funds, they said. This would provide
traffic access to that section of the
city.
A new naval hospital here is one
Of the most pressing of needs, in the
opinion Of those concerned with the