Evening star., 1953-03-01

4AAG R4NOOAAO OAAAS0V w V4A'
use and destruction of Rocl
Greek Park Extended (in Mary
land is our battle for the mo-
ment, but if highway authorize.
win their way here against us, Il
is obvious that the people of the
District will be up against monu.
mental odds should they seek tt
head off extension of the speed.
way into the District through
the park. With cooperative eff.
fort now it may never become 6
serious challenge to the District
Secrecy Is Protested.
1--WE protest the secretivenes1
Of the Maryland State Road!
Commission in its promotion o1
the southeast branch of High
way 24O. The commission KEEP
well covered, until recently, it:
plans in connection Herewith
changing the planned location o1
the route at least twice anc
thereby catching many authori-
ties and communities off guarC
when their final plans became
known. It dared to deceive. the
Maryland General Assembly a:
well as the. people of Lower
Montgomery County respecting
the final choice of routing fol
this highway.
ut now asks the General AS.
sembly for authorization and ap-
preparations for its general roaC
program. including Highway 24O
yet at times the same commits.
sion has indicated that it already
has the money required to builo
this branch of the highway. II
has represented that this route
was scheduled for very early con.
Struction under it's program, vel
in a more recent moment il
maintains that it has no plan tc
come farther than Wisconsin
avenue at this time, leaving the
route from there into Rock Greek
Park to be undertaken perhaps
as long as IL years hence.
However, survey crews are
continuing to run the line fol
the commission for this road
are stalking it, and are scheduled
to reach East-West highway
within another very few weeks.
Too Many Underpasses.
incidentally, in a one-mile
stretch of this proposed speed
way there must be underpaSses
or overpasses at Jones Bridge
road. Connecticut avenue, the
Baltimore & Ohio freight track
Manor road. Jones Mill road and
ultimately at EaSt-We high
way.
"At one interview these high
way authorities gave us to un-
derStand these would all be over
passes, thus creating a mile oi
elevated highway or a roller
coaster route; one week later tt
a day the same authorities ad-
vised us that they would use ar
overpasS only at Jones Mill road
with underpaSSeS at the Other
intersections.
"The Maryland highway au-
thorities, in other words, have
been something less than fail
in their representations through.
out with regard to this branch
of Highway 240, ignoring the
Montgomery County Council anc
other agencies, reporting wrong.
ly on its elected route to the
Maryland General Assembly, anc
have generally treated the pro.
posal as a private engineering
undertaking. All of which make.
greater the need for alertness or
the part Of all of us lest We
awaken one hour to find thai
the proposal is an accomplished
fact.
Would Ruin Home Values.
1--WE have long believed thai
1t was the thinking of all regiona
planning bodies in the Greater
Washington Area to let trunk
highways find their way arounC
rather than through Washing.
ton. The So-called Outer Bel
Route was a part of this plan.
ming. But the southeast branch
OF Highway 240 as proposed
would roll all the trucks, buse.
and cars OF this six-lane speed.
way right into the heart of the
city. and in so doing bring utter
ruin to thousands OF home value.
in lower Montgomery County
and the District Of Columbia.
This 200-foot right-of-way tx
accommodate this speedway
would pass through the from
and back yards of private home.
and apartments, through school
recreation and park grounds
and, in many instances, tn,
speedway woull look out ovel
the roof tops of fine. newly
built homes.
I'VE shall continue our pro.
test Of this kind of road plan
ming. fighting it with all the re-