Evening star., 1938-04-10
CELEBRATION SET
FOR Works START
ON WATER FRONT
Board of Trade Is Planning
Ceremonies for April 19
Near Fish Market.
EIGHT.YEAR PROJECT
WILL COST $1,65O,0O0
Notables Will Participate in
Affair Marking End of
30-Year Struggle.

The River and Harbor Improvement
Committee of the Washington Board
Of Trade is planning a celebration the
afternoon of April l9 to signalize the
official start of work on the long
awaited improvement of the Washing
ton Channel water front
John A. Remon, the committees
chairman. has been in consultation
with Maj. Walter D. Luplow, district
engineer for the War Department for
the Washington area. unde: whose
supervision the eight-year Sl.650,0O
plan will be executed. Tentative ar
rangements provide for the program to
start at $3.50 pm and include band
concert, distinguished speakers and
other features
1nasmuch as the Board of Trade has
been in the forefront of the fgh. to
secure the improvement and trans
form the water front into a civic
asset, this organization is taking the
lead in initiating the celebration. Sem
ators and Representatives, business
leaders and civic authorities, as wei!
as distinguished Army officers are
being invited to participate in the
celebration which will eliminate a
fight extending over some 30 years Or
more, officials said. The celebration
will be held near the Municipal Fish
Market.
Exhibit to Show Project.
Maj. Luplow is arranging to have
the derrick boat Atlas standing by in
the Washington Channel to lift he
first shovelful of earth and launch the
project officially at the celebration.
The site of the ceremony will be IN
open lot that will become No. yacht
basin.
The major is preparing an exhibit,
TO be shown in conjunction with the
celebration, depicting just what the
project will look like when completed.
Meanwhile, c. A. Chaney. senior
structural engineer in Maj. Luplows
office, is making final check on plans
and specifications so a date for OPEN
Ing of bids may be set during the
spring, While the Army engineers
will clean away the debris now on the
site, it is expected that private con-
tractors will do most of the construc.
tion work
Tenants now on the affected sites
have been given 80 days notice to
leave and are expected to vacate by
the end of the month. Mai. LUDLOW
said that one of the vacated buildings
will be utilized as a field Office for the
Army engineers.
The first years work will consist of
building the east half of No. Yacht
Basin. running from the north end
of the Municipal Fish Market to a
point some 500 feet northward and
including yacht sales and service
building. as we'll as the east half of
No. Yacht Basin, which will ex-
tend from the south side of the
Powell Transportation Co. property
southwark some 300 feet to the north
end of the Lorton prison pier. In the
No. Yacht Basin, hoist and timber
walks will be constructed. as well as
slips for tying up beats
Two Years Work.
Gasoline and Diesel oil facilities will
be furnished and the walks will be
flood-lighted A water supply will be
available for every craft. under the
plans the Army engineers have
drawn up.
At No. 2 Yacht Basin there will
be- neither building nor hoist. The
Army engineers are not disturbing the
tenants along the entire Washington
Channel waterfront, preferring to
cause the minimum of inconvenience.
Maj. Luplow said Only those prop
critics that can be worked most advan-
tageously will be evacuated and de-
molished at the present time.
BY summer, it is expected that two
years work will be in operation simul-
taneously, since the District govern
n1ent's share of the current years cost
has been made available so late in the
season. The money for next year is
expected to be made available July l.
when the new fiscal year starts.
One of the largest tenants on the
property now affected, the I. S. Turnover
lumber yard, on Water street, between
Thirteenth and Fourteenth streets
6.W., Is being moved to Bethesda, Md
Maj. Luplow said that under the lease
the government has with this firm, it
can remove the building from the
property when it is vacated.