Evening star., 1941-12-01
Member of tie Associated Press.
Traffic Report

The Traffic Subcommittee Of the
House District Committee. in making
recommendations for relief of the
traffic problem in Washington, prop
erly emphasizes the need for long
range remedies rather than tempo
rary palliativeS if there is to be any
reasonably permanent and effective
cure of the city'S parking and traffic
ills. The subcommittee is not a
pioneer in recognizing this need,
however Nor are its recommended
ticns new or necessarily feasible.
Among its major SuggeStionS, for
example, is one for survey of a
comprehensive system of SubWayS
and another for subterranean auto
mobile parking facilities under the
Mall But both of these projects have
been given careful study by traffic
and engineering experts and have
been rejected as impracticable. chiefly
because of their great cost. The
Whitehurst traffic report. prepared
after lengthy surveys by competent
authorities, unqualifedly disapproved
Of the underground parking plan be-
cause inquiries had shown that the
cost would be so prOhibitive as to
make the undertaking economically
unsound' And the cost Of subway
construction has been estimated at a
minimum of S5O00000 per mile.
Moreover, experience gained during
construction of the Commerce De-
partment Building indicates that
enormous engineering difficulties
would be involved in SubSurface con-
struction in the Mall area. Under
ground streams greatly complicated
the problem of Waterproofng the
foundations of the Commerce Build
ing. Similar obstacles undoubtedly
would be encountered in eXcavating
for underground garages in that vi
cinity.
In criticizing what it described as
the failure of local officials "aggres-
sively to apply anything more than
temporary remedies for Washing
tons traffic troubles, the Subcom-
rnittee seems to have overlooked the
fact that more costly permanent
remedies cannot be applied without
adequate funds with which to finance
them. Furthermore, it seems idle to
talk seriously of such major projects
n
at time when only emergency con-
structiOn work, related to defense
needs. is being given priority. The
Whitehurst report represents a thor
oughgoing, expert and practicable
analysis of the city's traffic Difficult
ties. Its recommendations, in gen.
eral, for long-vieW solution of these
difficulties are logical, practicable
and, in some instances, possible of
Immediate fulfillment as defense
measures, since they are eligible to be
financed under emergency appro-
priatIons for access" and strategic
roads. Among these urgent projects
are the Maine avenue grade separa-
ton, the K street viaduct and the
widening and extension of Independ-
ence avenue and of TWenty-third
street. An economically and tech
nically sound plan for relieving
parking congestion downtown is the
Whitehurst program for fringe park
ing facilities, linked to departmental
buildings by cheap bus service. An
immediate palliative would be ex-
tension of the no-parking regulations
In the congested section of the city.
1t is to be hoped that Congress will
concentrate on giving support to
carefully studied and generally ap-
proved plans for local traffic relief.
rather than diverting attention to
proposals long since examined by
engineers and traffic experts and dis
carded as unsound.