Evening star., 1953-07-30
The Public Gets Pushed Around

The real question in the Kenilworth over
pass controversy is whether the interests of a
group of outside investors should prevail over
the public interest.
Congress, apparently without full knowl-
edge of the issue, has answered in the afflrma-
tive. BY a rider on the District appropriation
bill, Congress has prohibited the District High
way Department from proceeding with plans
for removal of railway tracks which, the depart
ment says, would impede traffic and constitute
a safety hazard As a result. the whole
Washington Baltimore parkway project is ad-
versely affected for the Kenilworth overpass
is key link in the Washington approaches to
the new expressway
There is a strange clash of public and
private interests in this case Directly involved
are two rail companies wholly or partly owned
by non-local investors: The little-known East
Washington Railway Company, last vestige of
a nce-popular rail line to Chesapeake Beach,
and the Capital Transit Company The former
is owned almost entirely by group of Colo
radans bent on saving their profitable invest
ment, The CTC is controlled by the Wolfson
interests of Florida. 1t is not surprising, there
fore, that the successful fight on behalf of
these outsiders was led by Senator Millikin of
Colorado and Senator Holland of Florida, with
no spokesman to represent the people of
Washington
Under long-term arrangement the Bal
timore g. Ohio Railroad delivers carloads of
coal to the East Washington Railway yard,
where the coal cars are picked up by Capital
Transit and hauled over its old streetcar line
along Kenilworth avenue to the Benning plant
of the Potomac Electric Power Company. For
the use of it's facilities, East Washingtons IS
stockholders out West receive an annual profit,
kova ~ ho o1cn
carries some freight to Seat Pleasant but this
is only minor part of it's business. Capital
Transit receives profit Of about, $500 day
for hauling the coal to the Pepco plant.
!. In planning the local approaches to the
Baltimore parkway and the Annapolis freeway,
the highway engineers proposed six-lane
divided limited d-accesS expressWay via Kenil-
worth avenue, connecting with the new East
Capitol street bridge. Studies of the inter-
section at Keniworth avenue and Deane avenue
Northeast led to the planning of an overpasS
to carry KenilWorth avenue over Deane avenue
with a complicated cloverleaf interchange to
take care of the proposed Fort drive and other
traffic. Consultations with Pepco revealed
willingness by the power company to haul its
own coal, making use of an overpass to be
constructed at its own expense This would
permit abandonment of the deliveries by East
bill to authorize Pepco to build this structure
was introduced, with approval of District Off
Gals Then the storm from the West and South
broke with combined force. The bill authoriZ-
ing the overpaSS was lost on objection by
Senator Holland. The rider, forbidding inter-
ference with the present haulage partnership
of East Washington and Capital Transit,
emerged from conference on the District budget
and went through both houses without hitch.
The effect of this hasty action is to put
Congress on record as ignoring not only ex-
penditureS already made on plans, but the
future safety and convenience of the thousands
who will use the Baltimore and Annapolis free
ways, in favor of special business interests with
powerful pleaders. Business interests should
receive just compensation for any damages that
a court might find has been suffered as the
result of highway or other forms of public
Improvement But the welfare of the people
should be the paramount consideration in such
a project and there is grave doubt that the
public welfare has been the controlling inf1u-
ence in this case.