Evening star., 1938-09-28
GRAVEL['Y POINT
|SDES|GNATED AS
S|TEF0R AIRPORT.
Will Be Ready for Service
in Year and Finished
by End of 1910. {
PRESIDENT APPROVES
PROJECT FOR CAPITAL
Civil Aeronautics Authority,
P. W. A., ". P. A. and Army
to Join in Construction.
By JOSEPH g.. EDGERTON.

Construction Of . 760-acre air ter
minal which not only Is expected to
solve Washington's l2-year-old air.
port problem but to serve Is - model
for the rest Of the Nation" Is to
begin on the Gravelly Point site Ut
once, 1t was announced today by the
Civil Aeronautics Authority. following
approval Of the project late yesterday
by President Roosevelt.
The new airport Is scheduled to be
ready for service In IL months. the
entire project being slated for com.
pletion by the end Of 1910, the c. A. A.
announced.
The Gravelly Point site was first
recommended in 1925 by the ONCE Of
the Army engineer for the local dis
trict and the Aero Club Of Washington
and has been considered annually
since that time by various con-
gressional committees. The site was
selected by the new Civil Aeronautics
Authority after an exhaustive survey
of the entire Washington area ~ the
most advantageous point for close-in
field serving the Capital"
Four-Member Project.
The airport will be constructed As .
joint project participated in by the
Public Works Administration, Works
Progress Administration, Army Engi-
neer Corps and the c. A. A.
The authority today announced the
creation of q Washington National
Airport Committee to represent 1t in
handling construction Of the airport.
This committee will be composed Of
Civil Aeronautics Administrator Clin-
ton NJ Hester, Robert H. Hinckley Of
the authority, and Col. Sumpter Smith,
chairman of the Air Safety Board.
Actual preparation Of plans and
construction Of the airport will be
supervised by an engineering COM
mission composed Of Col. F. c. Har-
rington, chief engineer of the w. P. A.,
also representing the Corps Of Engi-
neers of the Army; Fred schnepke.
representing P. w. A. Administrator
Ickes, and Col. Smith, representing
the authority. This engineering COM
mission will make full use OF the serv-
ices Of the administrator technical
sta6 in preparing plans for the
project, it was stated.
President Roosevelt late yesterday
announced at his press conference
that he had become tired Of waiting
for Congress to solve the airport prob
lem for the National Capital and had
taken the matter into his own hands
because human lives were at stake"
Cites Futile Efforts.
The President recalled that in 1927
President Coolidge urged Congress to
build an adequate airport for WASH
ington and that President Hoover had
repeated the plea. Mr.. Roosevelt said
that he called the attention of Con-
gress to the great need for an ade-
quate and safe airport twice during
the past year, but that still nothing
was done.
The President said he had referred
the problem to the Civil Aeronautics
Authority with the recommendation
that it be among the first matters to
be taken up by the new agency. He
said that the authority. after studying
the subject, recommended that speed
was essential and that the Capital
should have at least two adequate
airports, one within easy reach Of the
center Of the city and one outside for
bad weather service. He said the c.
A. A. had selected Gravelly Point as
the close-in site, but that the second
site has not yet been selected.
A sta6 Of skilled engineers which
has been engaged for the past year
on the development of New York City's