Evening star., 1941-08-17
War BUILDING
Continued From First Page)
posed improvements recommended,
we would have ample capacity"

posed improvements recommended,
we would have ample capacity"
What would the load on the
bridges be with the proposed new
building? To begin with, 1t is known
that the aggregate number of auto
mobiles crossing Key, Highway and
Memorial Bridges into Washington
between the hours of 7 and 8 am.
on a weekday is 10573. The out
bound aggregate is 4,627.
The Army has announced 1t Is
planning a parking area for 10000
automobiles adjacent to the new
building. Assuming they intend to
use all this space, simple arithmetic
develops some pertinent figures.
1t is estimated at the present time
that 1854 per cent of War Depart
ment employees live in Washington
and metropolitan Maryland, while
12.5 per cent live in Virginia. Thus,
1854 per cent of the 10000 cars that
will park by the new building will
have to cross from the District to
the Virginia side of the river. This
is a total of 8,640. Adding this to
the 1927 which cross in this direc-
ton now, the figure l3,267 is OBJ
tanned.
1850 Fewer Inbound.
In like manner, it is possible to
compute the change In traffic vol
ume coming into Washington dur
ing the same period. Naturally,
Army employees living in Virginia
will no longer have to come to
Washington if the building is moved
to them. Taking 12.5 per cent (the
estimated percentage of War De-
partment employees resident in Vir-
ginia of the 10000 War Depart
ment cars, the figure 1850 results.
This, then, is subtracted from the
l0,573 cars inbound now during the
morning rush hours. This indi-
Gates that the number. of cars in
bound would drop to 9,2l3 when the
new building is put in use. The
charts accompanying this article
depict proportionally the traffic
problem expected to result.
During the Senate hearings on
the proposed building. Brig. Gen.
Brehon B. Somervell of the Army
Quartermaster Corps had this to
say about the traffic caused by the
new building:
There will be approximately T.
500 who would 60 over in private
cars, and about $4,000 that would
60 over in buses, and at so per bus
that is only 37O busses."
Was Long Range Program.
Whatever the exact increase In
traf1ic, four bridge approach pro-
Jects must become reality if added
trafnc burden is to be handled ef-
ficiently, District officials say. These
TOUR projects are parts of a long
range program of street improve
ments set forth last spring by Capt.
H. c. Whitehurst, District director
OF highways. The four projects are:
1. A grade separation at Four
teenth street and Maine avenue
S.W., costing $500 900, to speed the
flow of traffic on Highway Bridge.
2. A Georgetown bypass along the
line OF K street from Rock Creek to
Key Bridge, at cost of $4,000 900.
8. Extension Of Independence
avenue from Fourteenth street S.W.
to the Lincoln Memorial. To cost
81 100000, this project would pro-
vide an approach to Memorial
Bridge and relieve Constitution
avenue. already overcrowded.
4. Widening of Twenty third street
from Constitution avenue to Wash
ington Circle, at a cost of $130, 900,
as another approach to Memorial
Bridge.
Where Is Money Coming From?
The real problem, however, is
where to get the money for these
projects.
This seemed simple to the Army.
Gen. Somervell told Congress what
ever changes were necessary would
be Complementary" to the so-called
Whitehurst highway improvement
program.
There is no question" said the
general, but that this building
will and should accelerate the con-
struction of these highways"
Did he know how the Whitehurst
program is to be paid for?
Originally, the program was to
have been paid for in eight years
from revenues from a 2-cent in
crease in the local gasoline tax. The
enabling legislation as reported to
the House recently, however, cuts
this gas tax increase to / cent.
Cut by Gas Rationing.
District officials anticipate an an
nual income of $1,500, 900 from this
source-provided gasoline rationing
does not reduce the amount con-
sumed here too drastically. CA Is
per cent reduction in consumption
is the goal of rationing)
Another thing to be considered Is
the fact that the gas tax would not
90 into effect until January l, 1912.
Money hardly could be gotten from
this source in time to finance road
improvements for the purpose of
meeting a traffic problem growing
out of building the Army has said
1t will put up in one year.
Before the Army building was
heard Of, the District Highway De-
partment had planned to complete
one of the four bridge, approach
projects the Fourteenth street
grade separation-in two years. The
District is matching Federal road
grant money To dn this VnrA but |