Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1947-02-02
Pork-Hiehwuy Issue
PeriIinq Fort Drive
Merits of Belt or Park Drive
Hinge on Cost and Utility
By Rudolph Kaufmann II

By Rudolph KAUFMAN II
Two Washington agencies have parted
company on an important highway prof.
ect-one which involves millions of the
taxpayers dollars. If the path actually
followed by the city proves wrong in the
light of experience, it could mean q
serious loss to the city In terms OF time.
effort and money.
The project is the Fort drive. Dis
trict officials say it is "chimerical, USE
less and makes no sense today; that
the land bought for it ought to be turned
into taxable property.
Its sponsor for more than 30 years,
the National Capital Park and Planning
Commission, says just the opposite
that it is vital trstllc need, belt park
way which would intercept IS major
road approaches to the Capital and dis
tribute traffic sideways so it would not
use congested downtown streets.
Whether the truth lies somewhere be-
tween or in one or the other of these
divergent viewpoints is moot question.
But, before ones mind is made up on
the right answer, it should be known
that there may be misconception on just
what the Fort drive is.
Somewhere along the line the impress
sion has been gained that it is a sort of
Sunday school picnic project-a roadway
aimed merely to help park visitors tour
the line of historic Civil War forts now
turned to neighborhood parks.
The drive would, of course, accomplish
this. But the city's planners have never
advocated it primarily Cor this reason.
They look on the drive as practical
way of insulating" inner Washington
from unnecessary traffic
x x*
Here is the reasoning behind their
position:
l. The line of forts just happened to
make a good route for belt-line high
way.
2. The land was cheap and lot of it
a poor bet for real estate development.
8. There was chance to get string
Of park and playground areas at the
same time as the drive right Of way.
The areas lie in sections where parks
and Fairgrounds were lacking. Actually
only 200 of the 1855 acres bought in
the process are needed for the drive
itself. Using the fort route, hence, was
way of killing two birds with one stone.
4. And a poor fourth at that-there Is
historical interest in the forts.
Now the District Highway Department
itself proposes belt route which would
parallel the drive. 1t would use i'm
proved and extended city streets and Sec
tons of the system of expressways re-
Gently urged by Highway Director H. c.
Whitehurst.
Hence, 1t is obvious District officials
themselves favor the belt-route idea.
Their reasons for a belt are the same
as the planners. Both agencies, as a
matter of fact, have used the same set
of traffic figures in deciding If belt is
needed. They simply do not agree on
the route.
One reason the District objects to the
fort route is that passenger vehicles
would be the only ones allowed on 1t.
The Districts belt route would carry all
types Of traffic.
X X
The planners counter that II passenger
vehicles were taken off the streets by
the drive, the streets would be clear for
trucks They are borne out In this by
1916 national motor vehicle registration
figures, which show that only one vehicle
In every six bears commercial license
plates.
This leaves only the question OF cost.
A cost comparison would be hard to
make. Some sections of the Districts
route would cost more than parallel Sec
lions of the Fort drive and vice versa.
For the sake of argument. however,
let us assume that the Fort drive Is the
more elaborate and costly of the two.
But, to divert traffic, city cannot get
by with providing a route alone. The
route must be good enough and fast
enough so drivers will use it in prefer
ence to any other.
This question of preference is all-im-
| portant. 1t is to create routes that
drivers will prefer using that Capt.
Whitehurst himself advocates system
of uptown downtown and crosstown ex-
pressways-sunken roadways, which will
be even more expensive to build than
the Fort drive.
Therefore, the question Washington
should decide is this: If belt line Is
necessary, .if it would really help
straighten out some of the congestion
in our city, should we buy q high-class
job, or can we patch something to-
gether out of our street system that will
do just as we'll?
was to organize his own symphony or
chestra. Meanwhile he would write