Evening star., 1953-01-30
Federal City .
Group Blasts
Highway Plan
Concept Of D. c.
In Future Decades
Held Essential


Held Essential
A blistering criticism Of the
Districts proposed highway inn
provement program. attacking its
basic aims as well as individual
has been drawn UP by .
subcommittee of the Committee
Of 100 on the Federal City.
The scathing, zl-page report
is being distributed by mail TO
committee members. 1t will come
up for action at meeting Tues
day.
The reports basic complaint
against the District Highway De-
partment's thinking Is that 1t is
attempting to solve immediate
problems on the basis of present.
day traffic considerations" In
stead, the report contended,
highway planning should begin
with a concept of what the Dis
trict will be like one. two or three
decades hence. -"
This dispute has been reflected
often in past issues over high
way and bridge programs.
Bridge Under Fire.
Among projects drawing heavy
fire from the subcommittee are
the proposed e street bridge.
the Rock Greek Parkway and the
Glover-Archbold Parkway. II
questions also the need for the
East Capitol street bridge, on
which preliminary work has al
ready begun, and selections Of
roadways to lead from it.
The report asserted the High
way Departments program only
partly provides good connections
with proposed high-speed. su-
burban expresswayS. And while
it recognizes "in principle" the
need for an inner-belt route
around the central city, 1t does
not propose a satisfactory one,
the report said.
Subcommittee members sign.
ing the report were Maj. Gen.
U. s. Grant, Sd. president Of the
American Planning and Civic
Association; John Ihlder, for
mer executive secretary Of the
National Capital Housing Au.
thority:: Horace Peaslee, archi-
tect. and Tracy B. Augur. urban
planning officer of the General
Services Administration.
The report urged the full COM
mittee not to indorse the $12.l
million program as a. whole. In
dividual projects should be acted
on, it said, only If they are part
Of satisfactory long-range pro-
gram. or are needed to meet i'm.
mediate crises.
Sees New Areas.
Even without large scale dis.
persal or decentralization moves,
the subcommittee foresaw q fu-
ture drop In Federal employ.
ment in the District. Future en-
ployment centers probably will
spring up, it said, 40 to 40 miles,
or even farther. from the city"
To meet this prospect. the re-
port said. "the Districts primary
highway Improvement need for
the future is a network of /.
expresSwayS, extending radially
from points as close to the cen.
ter as possible outward for dis
tances up to 40 or so miles"
These, it added, should be sup
plemented by "ring roads" for
traffic circumventing the city.
Many such expressways, the
report noted, are proposed or
under construction. Among them
are the Baltimore Washington
Parkway, the Annapolis Free
way. the Suitland Parkway,
Shirley Highway. the National
Pike (to Frederick) and q route
along the Virginia side Of the
Potomac. Serious gaps, it said.
exist to the West and Northeast
Of the city.
So far as the Districts pro-
posed connections with these
routes are concerned, the report
declared:
/. The proposed Kenilworth
Freeway. as a link from the
East Capitol street bridge with
the Baltimore Parkway and An
napolis Freeway, would meet
an essential need" But 1t Is
questionable whether such q
route sis as well suited as
q parkway along the Anacostia. "
Sees Plan rs Inferior.
2. The proposed Rock Creek
Parkway, as link with the Ma.
tional Pike to the North, is in.
ferior to development Of q free.
way along the East side Of the
Potomac.
Assuming that the National
Pike from Frederick ends in the
vicinity Of Cabin John, the re-
port asserted. a dual. six-lane
freeway should run along Canal
road from Foxhall road to the
District line This would be far
cheaper than q wide route
through the Rock Greek Valley.
the report said.
The report noted the District
has listed the Canal road extern
sion as q future project and
called this bad timing. The FIRST
class parkway" should be ready
for use by the time Maryland
completes the National Pike ex.
tension. and certainly not later
than 1856. it added.
The proposal to extend . road.
southwark to Canal road through
Glover-Archbold Park could be
omitted at q saving Of more
than $3.6 million. the subcona-
mittee declared.