Evening star., 1947-03-26
Planners Blast
Road Program,
'Urge5ubstitute
Consultants Ideas
Called WostefuI,
Harmful to D. G..
By Rudolph Kouffmonn II

Washlngton's planners today fired
salvo OF criticism at the long
range transit and highway plans
that have been offered the CITY
by the District Highway Depart
ment and out-of town consultants.
They also made public their own
proposal for a city highway pat
tern-one basicaliy different from
that of the Highway Department
and the consultants. The planners
called for the formation of a per-
manent committee to reconcile both
versions ard draft a unified street
plan as part of the Capital master
plan that is toSform the basis for
the city's projected redevelopment
of Slum areas.
/ Presented at Hearing.
The proposal was advanced by
the National Capital Park and
Planning Commission at a public
nearing held by the Commissioners
on the transportation plan which
involves a system of depressed ex-
pressways and underground street.
car lines. The E. j. Greiner Co. Of
Baltimore and the De Leuw, Gather
Co. of Chicago were the consultants
hired by Engineer Commissioner
Gordon R. Young and Highway Di-
rector H. C. Whitehurst to aid in
developing the plan.
The planning commissions criti-
cism and proposals were contained
in l6-page statement presented
by John Nolen, jr, its director of
planning, after Maj. Gen. U. S.
Grant III, commission chairman,
offered a letter of transmittal call
ing for a go slow attitude toward
the expressways and underground
streetcars.
To start with, the statement
scored the plan as something done
without reference to other phases
of city development.
In addition, it added, the plan is
for the District only-about two
thirds of the population affected
whereas it should be regional plan,
especially since the population of
the District is becoming smaller in
proportion to surrounding areas all
the time.
The commission aimed its heaviest
criticism at the expressways which
the so-called Greiuer-De Leuw Plan
offers as major cure for traffic
trouble. These were attacked on
two grounds:
l. The traffic by 1865 won't be
big enough to justify their cost.
2. AS set up in the plan, they
would merely hasten the exodus of
taxpayers into Maryland.
Triples Car Capacity.
These super-roads would be big
enough and streamlined enough to
carry $4,000 cars every "a hours,
the statement said. This capacity,
added to that of other city streets,
would mean the city had equipped
itself with street system sufficient
to carry three times the prewar VOL
ume of traffic into the central area.
The plan holds forth the promise
that the expressways, because they
will make it easier to get downtown
from outlying areas, will peg tax
values in the central areas. But "it
should be borne in mind that the
opposite effect may we'll be pro-
duced on residential areas in the
District which supply three-fourths
OF. the Districts real estate tax
income" the statement said.
The commission described the un-
derground streetcar proposal as
lacking technical justification. The
cost would be about the same as
the value of the entire present bus
and streetcar system, the statement
said.
| Rigid System" Opposed.
Putting tracks underground, ex-
cept locally to ease congestion at
bad intersections like Dupont Cir
Gle, would create a rigid system
which could not be easily changed
around to meet shifts in employ
ment and population centers, it was
pointed out.
The transit proposals of the plan
putting major sections of downtown
carlines under ground-came in for
criticism also from the Capital
Transit Co.
| E. D. Merrill, transit company
president, said the whole trend in
city transit is toward less in the
way of fixed tracks and more to-
ward busses. He implied that some
day all streetcars might be aban-
doned for a streamlined bus system,
which could be shifted easily to meet
population and employment changes.
| More Express Service Planned.
| Mr.. Merrill said, for instance, his
company has plans for greatly in
creased express bus service in the
future.
The commission took no particu-
lar issue with most of the short
range proposals of the Greiner-De
Leuw report, provided the city re-
members to keep studying them in
the light of other problems which
are bound to arise.
The commissions own idea Of
how the city's street system should
be overhauled was offered in the
form Of an up-to-date version of
its thoroughfare plan, master
highway map of the District, which
the planners have been evolving
since 1927, but have never succeeded
in getting the District to adopt in
one piece.
Seeks to Conserve Values.
A more modest layout than the
pressWay-undeIgr streetcar
system proposed by Capt. White
hurst and his consultants, its main
aim is to conserve property values
in the District by developing Ger
tain existing streets to a point
where through traffic will favor
them and keep slum- breeding con-
gestion out of substantial residential
and business areas.
P. Y. K. Howat, speaking for the
Washington Board of Trade, said
the board favors the plan "in
principle" but that some groups
and persons" are critical of some
Iof its provisions and believe there
should be more agreement on a
comprehensive plan for the entire
Metropolitan Washington area be-
fore I'VE undertake this project
Traffic Director George E. Keneipp