Evening star., 1951-07-12
Board Of Trade
Group Approves
Burke Airport
Aviution Committee
Tours Site; Lond
AppruisuIs Pushed

Board of Trade members today
voiced unqualified, if informal,
approval Of the Burke site for a
new Washington airport, after a
hot and dusty tour of the 4,5OO
acres in nearby Fairfax County
yesterday afternoon.
Chairman Howard c.. Drake of
the Aviation Committee said he
believes members will back selec-
ton of the site with the same en-
thusiasm they have shown in the
three-year f1gth to win Congress
sional approval for the $14 mil
lion project.
Herbert H. Howell, director Of
the local project for the Civil
Aeronautics Administration, told
the committee that Justice De-
partment experts are well along
with their land appraisals and feel
the site can be acquired within
the million dollars set aside by
Congress.
Can be "Good Neighbor."
Mr.. Howell expressed the view
that the airport can be a good
neighbor" and thus overcome the
objections of some property own
ers and Fairfax County officials.
He explained the CAA already
has suggested to county au-
thorities that water and sewerage
facilities to be developed for the
airport might be shared by ad-
joining communities.
| Screening trees will be left
wherever possible, he said, and
substitute roads will be built as
rapidly as present roads are closed
within the boundaries staked out
/ by Federal surveyors.
Will Affect IS, Farms.
Roughly, some rs farms will be
affected. although only about 20
per cent of the land it in use. it
was estimated. Large sections of
the rolling land are covered with
Iburned-over underground, with
little if any top soil remaining.
On the whole, however, the pur-
chase price should average out at
some 5000 an acre. Federal experts
said.
Choice of the site was based on
accessibility, soil content as it
affects the construction Of run
ways. and the fact that the land
is sparcely settled and as yet un-
developed for residential use.
Accessibility, however, was the
main factor. The new site, it
was pointed out. will be only TIA
miles south of the White House.
with most Of the mileage on the
broad Shirley highwty approach
to Washington. An access road
five or six miles long will connect
the airport with the highway.
rs Minutes Driving Time.
Driving time in normal traffic
is estimated at Is minutes, as
against some 40 minutes to sites
considered and rejected in the
vicinity of Herndon and Chantilly,
|, Va.
}, Any longer driving time would
place the new project is a bad
competitive position with Ma
tional Airport, it was explained.
The Oscar convoy wound
through weed-grown, dirt roads
yesterday and came to a halt
beside a small garden patch.
guarded by a scarecrow. on the
edge of the projected main run
way.
An astonished woman issued
from farm house and called out:
What is this, a funeral or a
: wedding?" She grinned while the
men from the city fumbled for
an answer.
Just then one of the woman's
i. |neighbors drove up in a battered
car. He hung sun-scorched face
b. out window and said:
Don't worry, nam, this amt
no funeral. None of us are gonna
be carried out until they pay us!"
TITS no wedding. either" re-
marked a small boy They can't
have wedding without no women
along"
About that time, the process
sion moved on.