Evening star., 1953-11-02
Experts in Planned Delay


Those who have some understanding of
the part that should be played by the National
CAPITAL Planning Commission in development
of Washington and the metropolitan area have
reason to be concerned about it's future.
The commission is losing prestige as a
planning agency. 1t is not exercising construc-
tive leadership The opinions of its staff carry
little weight with construction and planning
agencies in the Washington region. In some
phases of long range planning for Washington,
the real planning is being done by other Federal
agencies.
The meetings of the commission on Thurs
day and Friday of last week were character
iStically disappointing. Most of its discussions
take place in Secret-a secrecy that may have
been justified when the commission was chiefly
occupied in planning to purchase or deciding
to purchase land, but which is out of place
when it is considering questions of great public
interest in which it assumes the role of arbiter.
There is growing suspicion that if the meetings
were held in public, the amount of time-con-
suming and often pointless discussion would
become the subject of ridicule
The two questions of chief public interest
before the commission last week affected the
course to be followed by Maryland's Route 240 to
the District Line, and the location of new
Potomac bridge to serve the downtown area Of
Washington Both of these questions have been
before the commission for many months. If
the commission staff has any workable alter
natives to the plans proposed by the responsible
road building agencies, it has been unable to
convince those agencies, or even the commission
Itself. The policy followed by the commission
seems to amount to obStructionism which
accompHSheS nothing but delay, delay that
promises nc definite answers to pressing queS-
tions and which serves further to reduce the
positive influence Of the commission on the
other agencies with which it is supposed to deal.
The commissions latest proposal on Route
24O is so vague that after it was announced it
invited conflicting interpretations as to it's
meaning. In essence, it seems to be that the
commission does not oppose use of park land
as rights of way for highways, provided the
commission decides what purposes are to be
served by the highways - thus assuming an
authority which the people of Maryland have
placed squarely with Maryland's own highway
engineers and highway planners. 1t has left
the question of Route 240's Washington ter
minus as much in the air as it ever was.
On the bridge question, the commission
has requested the District Commissioners to
compare estimates of cost of an Street Poto-
mac bridge with those of a bridge recently
dreamed up by the commission staff which
would parallel, slightly downstream, the exist
Ing railroad bridge. These estimates will in
time be supplied. Costs are important of
course, but the function to be performed by
the bridge facility is even more important
Federal and local highway authorities are Of
the present opinion that the bridge location
proposed by the commission staff raises more
questions than it answers. They have the i'm
preston that the staff has proposed this new
location, not so much because of its own merits
as because it offers new device for opposing
the Street bridge location
Under the late Frederic A. Delano the
National Capital Planning Commission COM
manded high respect, not only in Washington
but around the country. Under General U. S.
Grant, Sd, the commission performed a valuable
task in its acquisition of land In recent years
the commission has done little beyond getting
itself involved in continuing argument with
other regional planning agencies with which
1t is supposed to work in harmony Commission
Chairman Bartholomew has his work cut out
for him in restoring the prestige and once again
establishing the value of the commission to
Washington and the metropolitan area.