Evening star., 1937-03-26
|. c. c, TO EXTEND
AREA CONSIDERED
AS METROPOLITAN
Alexandria, Arlington, Parts
of Nearby Maryland
Are Taken In.
MOTOR CARRIER ACT
CLEARED UP BY ORDER
Compromise on Divergent Views
Effective in 20 Days Unless
Protested.

Alexandria City and Arlington
County, in Virginia, and parts Of
Montgomery and Prince Georges
Counties, Md, would be considered
the metropolitan area" of Washing
ton for administration of the motor
carrier act, under an order proposed
to the Interstate Commerce Commits
sion today by Examiner Paul Coyle.
In this area interstate motor trans
portation would be exempt from the
rate-fixing provision of the act. It
would, however, come under the hours
of service and safety provisions.
The Montgomery County territory
proposed for inclusion is Garrett Park,
Kensington, the Bethesda district Of
Montgomery County and the follow
ing sections of Wheaton district,
Montgomery: South and west of the
highway extending eastward and
southeastward from Garrett Park
through Kensington, Wheaton, Chest
nut Ridge and Four Corners to the
Montgomery CountyPrince Georges
County line.
Order Effective in 20 Days.
In Prince Georges County the area
would take in Chillum, Riverdale,
Hyattsville, Bladensburg, Seat Pleas
ant and Spaulding districts.
This order will be effective within
20 days unless exceptions are filed or
the commission itself stays it.
Examiner Coyles report is in effect
a compromise between two widely di-
vergent points of view expressed at .
hearing here several weeks ago.
In those proceedings the Board OF
Trade argued for commercial zone
metropolitan area) that would lie
within radius of 20 to 25 miles from
the zero milestone, explaining that
local merchants make deliveries with
in that area without additional charge.
The Capital Transit Co. lined up
for the same principle asking for ex-
emption for its bus operations as far
out as Laurel and Gaithersburg in
Maryland, and Mount Vernon, Va.
On the other hand, the State Cor
poration Commission of Virginia and
the District of Columbia Trucking AS.
sociation wanted tc make the area CO.
incide with District boundary lines,
though the State of Virginia conceded
that Rosslyn, for instance, might be
incorporated. In both of these in
stances, it was contended that to ex-
tend the lines any distance into
Maryland and Virginia would set up
twilight zone in which neither Fed
eral nor State regulation would apply.
Says Finding Unwarranted.
"The record herein does not war
rant such finding" Coyle said by
restricting commercial zones to those
areas which arc adjacent to munich
palitles and contiguous municipalities,
Congress intended to restrict the zones
within which interstate and foreign
commerce is exempt to those areas
within which transportation by motor
vehicles is in the nature of an intra-
terminal movement. Gaithersburg,
Olney, Rockville, Laurel, Bowie and
Marlboro, Md, and Fairfax, Falls
Church and Mount Vernon, Va, are
not sufficiently adjacent to Washing
ton to be considered within the WASH
ington commercial zone for the pur-
poses of applying the exemption
The Interstate Commerce Commits
sion is charged under the motor car
rier act with setting up these
commercial zones wherever the ordi-
nary traffic of a community must cross
a State line. Private carriers are not
affected, but contract carriers hauling
for commercial or industrial concerns
come under the act.