Evening star., 1949-10-02
By WiIliom A. MiIIen

The WhitehurSt FreeWay Will De
dedicated at 2 pm. Saturday !.
bringing to reality the traffic
dream of the late H. c. White
hurst, District director Of high
ways.
Capt. Whitehurst envisioned the
K street viaduct as a vital Ink
in an improved trafflc network
for Washington. This program
includes K street as the main
downtown East-West highway,
connecting in the future with the
new Washington Baltimore park
way on the east and the Arizona
avenue Freeway on the west.
An underpass at Washington
Circle in the line of K street is
another phase Of the program be-
ing considered.
Capt. Whitehurst's widow will
be at the dedication Saturday and
his 4-year-old granddaughter.
Maria Whitehurst Brownette. will
cut the ribbon to open the new
freeway.
Delayed by War.
Long before the war. Capt.
Whitehurst realized the serious
ness of the Georgetown traffic
snarl and made plans to build
the K street elevated highway.
The war stalled the plans and in
September of 1948 Capt. White
hurst died.
AS soon as the Whitehurst Free
way is opened. the planning sec
ton of the District Highway De-
partment will begin a traffic
count, both on M street in George
town and the freeway, as well as
on nearby Pennsylvania avenue
and Washington Circle, to deter
mine the effect of the new prof.
ect on traffic in the west end OF
the city.
The Whitehurst Freeway is
about a mile long, running from
the Key Bridge to Rock Creek.
It is Washington's first elevated
motorway. It is a drivers dream,
with not a traffic light in sight.
It is considered the last word in
modern traffic engineering.
The project has been under con-
struction since July 7, 1947. 1t cost
So, 400, 900, half paid by the Fed
eral Government under the road
aid program, through the Bureau
of Public Roads. It is designed to
speed traffic to and from down.
town Washington through George
town to Maryland and Virginia.
It has been built to hold maximum
highway loads - automobiles,
buses and trucks, as we'll as win
tertime loads of snow and ice.
Will Ease M Street Traffic.
officials estimate 1t will carry
three-fourths of the $4,000 ve-
hicles daily that now use the con-
gested M street route through
Georgetown. competing with Cap
ital Transit Co. streetcars and
Virginia buses.
The Whitehurst Freeway has a
cloverleaf arrangement at each
end, designed for an easy flow OF
traffic in and out of Rock Creek
valley, Key Bridge and M street.
The main structure rises to a
height of As feet above the Po-
tomac waterfront in Georgetown,
but goes up to a height of go feet
at the west end. The ramp down
from Key Bridge to the Freeway
is 10 feet high. The Freeway will
make easier access to Canal road,
which has been widened as part of
the project to Foxhall road, Mac
Arthur boulevard and other traffic
arteries, including Chain Bridge.
District officials contend the
Whitehurst Freeway, in taking
traffic off M street, will not seri-.
ously affect the merchants of
Georgetown. For they say that
those who want to shop on M
street will be able to find a park
ing space there more easily.
Into the Freeway went 5000
tons of structural steel and 1000
tons of reinforcing steel.
Justement Consulted.
While the project was started
under Capt. Whitehurst, it has
been carried forward since his
| death under direction Of District