Evening star., 1945-04-20
IalksProgress
On Alexandra
bridgeProposa|
Planners Consider
Memorial Project
Honorine Roosevelt
BY NELSON M. SHEPARD.


Maj. Gen. U. S. Grant III, chair.
man of the National Capital Park
and Planning Commission, reported
preliminary progress" today in con-
ferences with Virginia officials look
ing toward eventual construction Of
a bridge across the Potomac River
from Anacostia to Alexandria.
Following his report at the clos
ing meeting of the monthly PLAN
ming session, the commission an
nounced it still believes such a
bridge is necessary regardless of
whether one or two spans replace
the Highway Bridge. 1t still will
be necessary, the commission con-
tended, to divert through traffic
from Maryland and Virginia around
Washington.
The Planning Commission had
met an earlier rebuff during the
controversy over replacement of the
Highway Bridge when the District
Commissioners lined up solidly be-
hind a proposal for two one-way
traffic bridges. The Planning Com
mission had held out for one span.
Memorial Ideas Reviewed.
Secretary Thomas S. Settle re.
viewed various legislation for con-
Istruction of memorials to Franklin
D. Roosevelt. He singled out for
special discussion a resolution in
troduced by Senator Pepper, Demo-
crat, of Florida proposing construc-
tiop of q uyor memorial tay,onle IN,
Washington. After Mr. Roosevelts
death, the resolution was amended
to provide for it as a memorial to
the late President and the dead OF
the World War and the present con-
f1ict.
The resolution would authorize q
S., ,000, 900 appropriation for the con-
struction of a temple suitable for
concerts, operas, lectures and other
civic activities.
While the Planning Commission
did not indorse any of the proposals.
| it expressed its general sympathy to
the idea of a Roosevelt memorial
that could be used by the public.
Last night Secretary Settle had told
reporters that the Planning Com
mission hoped the Jefferson Memo
rial would be the last of that general
type erected in Washington.
Suburbs Growing Fast.
After Gen. Grant reviewed hear
ings on various sites suggested for
the national stadium the commits
sion reported it still adheres to its
original recommendation that the
stadium be located in the 200-acre
sports area at the end of East Capt.
tol street.
Maryland and Virginia suburban
areas are still rapidly outdistancing
Washington in the percentage in
crease of permanent new residential
construction, a commission survey
reveals, showing Arlington County
far ahead in the Metropolitan Area
on the basis of figures for the first
! five years of the war emergency.
From January, 1910. through De-
cember, 1914, permits, were is
sued for approximately $1,000 per-
manent dwelling units in the Metro
politan Area, representing an in
crease of Is per cent over the num-
ber of permanent dwellings on rec
ord as of January /, 1910. This
record was maintained in spite of
wartime restrictions on building ma
| terials.
Washington's share of the sizable
increase was 1863 per cent, as COM
pared with a reported 1872 per cent
increase in Arlington County build
ing permits. Permits for 81 300 new
dwelling units were issued in the
District of Columbia, exclusive of
temporary public housing and bar
racks for military personnel in the
city. This increase, it was reported,
gives Washington a total of 2l6,000
permanent housing units as of jan
uary l, 1945.
33S,O0O- Unit Increase.
The net increase of new residen-
tial construction throughout the
Metropolitan Area accounts for a
present total of approximately $780,
600 units.
| Prepared by Max Wherly, city
planner, the report was submitted
for the guidance of the COM
mission which is making an inten-
sive study of housing and popula-
ton trends in the Washington area
for the planning of postwar projects.
Nineteen forty-one was the peak
year for permanent residential con-
struction, 20,400 permits having
been issued then, as against only
3,700 in 1914, the low year of the
period covered by the survey.
The survey pictured the greatest
growth in Washington as occurring
in the Anacostia area east of the
Anacostia River, which was borne
out in previous population studies.
That accounts for the special at
tention the Planning Commission is
now devoting to this area in the