Evening star., 1941-05-05

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The director revealed there were
three possibilities by which traffic
might be conveyed across the river
"a high-level bridge, a low-level
bridge and a tube The first was
dismissed, he said, because it would
interfere with await ton and prob
ably would require a 135-foot clear
ance. Chief objection to the low
level span was that, besides its in
reference to some extent with air.
craft operations, its draw would
have to be opened so often for ships
passing along the river as to con-
stitute a serious obstruction to high
way traffic.
Location of Tube and Cost.
The proposed tube would extend
under the river from Alexandria to
Sherherds Landing, point at
which the stream is approximately
$500 feet wide. and would cost ap-
proximately s9.5C0,000. 1t would
form part of a suggested bypass
route linking Virginia roads with
the highways north and west of
the District, but its greatest bene-
fit would be in the relief of the
immense traffic load now taxing
Highway Bridge.
Capt. Whitehursl said he was sur
prised to learn of the inbound flow
over Highway Bridge Is revealed
by the meter cneck taken there in
recent months. The source of this
traffic is not wholly known, he add
ed, but an effort will be made to 10
cate it in the hope that there also
will be found the reason why High
way Bridge is so much more heavily
taxed than Memorial Bridge.
Much of the Highway Bridge traf-
fic 1t is known, comes from Alex
andria and points south, while an
estimated 10 Ler cent of it is made
up by trucks, which are not per-
mitted on Memorial Bridge, but the
director does not believe these
sources would explain the difference
Alexandria Crossing Warranted.
Capt. Whitehurst said the present
flow OF traffic passing over the Po-
tomac River warrants construction
of crossing at Alexandria, OF the
four bridges across the river, only
one-Highway Bridge-is carrying
anywhere near its capacity load.
Actual check revealed that the
four bridges had an average daily
volume of l10,535 vehicles last sum-
mer and that on some days the load
was as high as 125,o00. The count
indicated that Chain Bridge was
not being utilized to near it's useful
capacity. probably due to inadequate
approaches and roads leading to it,
particularly on the Virginia side
This also was found to be true Of
Key Bridge, which has bad ap-
proaches on each side.
Memorial Bridge, according to the
director, is capable of carrying con-
siderable more traffic than was
found to be crossing there. A much
heavier. volume was shown to be
pouring over the crowded four lanes
Of Highway Bridge than over the
six lanes of Memorial. During the
recent Cherry Blossom Festival. for
instance, meters showed that $4,000
vehicles crossed Highway Bridge on
each of the two days, as compared
to $4,000 for Memorial
The check that week end also re-
vealed that the traffic load at this
period is 90 to IS per cent above
normal, while that on Memorial is
nearly so per cent above normal,
It was estimated that $1,000 cars
from Virginia alone came into the
District during the festival.
Anacostia Bridge.
The most important bridge CALI 1
for in the highway program : a
new $4,500,000 span across the Ana
costa River at South Capitol street.
This bridge, it Is expected, would
take a good part Of the traffic OF
Anacostia Bridge, now badly over
loaded, and would relieve congestion
on Nichols avenue and Good Hope
road. Moreover. it would provide an
important link in the trunk highway
to the Southeast and would connect