Evening star., 1952-12-14
Highway Chart for the Future

washington or the future, as the highway
planners would have it, is charted in the long
awaited Metropolitan Area highway improve
ment program just released Envisioned is a
Greater Washington in fact as we'll as name.
composed of the city proper and its neighboring
Virginia and Maryland suburbs-all tied together
oy network of modern radial and belt roads,
designed to speed the flow of traffic The Regional
highway Planning Committees report is of ex-
traordlnary Importance not only because it rep
resents intelligent interjurisdctonal teamwork
but because it is based on an actual survey of
traffic trends throughout the whole area
Previous attempts to chart highway plan
Tor the future in the Metropolitan Area have
been handicapped by lack of reliable data on
trat1c needs and trends. On the theory that
something more than guesswork should guide
the planners in laying out new streets and ex-
pressways and grade separations and bridges,
comprehensive origin nd-destination survey
was begun several years ago. The proposed pat
tern of highway development which has emerged
from this continued study is shaped to meet the
demands of the future as we'll as the needs of
today. 1t is basic guide. yet flexible enough to
be adapted to changing traffic flows as the area
grows in population and extent
It would be too much to expect unanimous
agreement on all parts of such a far-ranging
program. There were minor differences within
of the plan. But there was remarkable unanirnity
as to the overall aspects of it, considerable
achievement in Metropolitan Area planning. The
public already has had access to the District
part of the report, which was released in advance
of the Virginia and Maryland portions. About
the only new angle to the District chapter is the
cost estimate. Only year ago the cost of the
Districts immediate needs" program was esti-
mated at 500 million. Now, result of rising
10
has gone up to $122 million. Still prominent in
the District program is the controversial street
bridge over the Potomac River. The Regional
Committee insists that bridge approximately
midway between the Memorial and Key Bridges
is traffic necessity now and for the future.
The Maryland program conforms in general
to plans recently announced by the Maryland
State Roads Commission for improvement of
highways near Washington. There are more
details, however, concerning such major projects
as the Washington National Pike and its con-
nections with Washington, the intercounty free
way that is to be a segment of the outer belt
highway around the District, and Improvement
of main roads through congested Prince Georges
and Montgomery Counties.
Particularly newsworthy is the Virginia Sec
ton of the report, for it discloses for the first
time the highway planners proposals for major
traffic-relief projects in nearby Virginia It will
be welcome news to Virginia motorists that plans,
at least, are in hand for widening Shirley and
Lee highways, for additional grade separations
on crowded Arlington boulevard, for bypassing
Lee highway traffic around Falls Church, for
continuing the widening of Glebe road and
Columbia pike and for other raffic-expediting
undertakings
More formidable than the prospect OF con-
troversy over some of the items is the big prob
lem of financing the program in each jurisdic-
ton The District already is weighing the f1nanc-
ing problem, and Maryland is giving lot OF
thought to it's share of the cost, including the
advisability of extending the toll system. Vir-
ginia, unfortunately has done little so far to
solve the problem of paying for highway i'm
provements urgently needed in the Arlington
Fairfax area. The present system of apportioning
road funds does not keep pace with the needs of
the rapidly growing communities across the
river Joint financing of some interjurisdictional
projects should be considered. regional study
to allot cost burdens fairly on bridge and other
interjurisdictional improvements should be the
next step, once agreement is reached on the
program ITSELF