Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-07-23
Urged
In alexandra
Traffic Control
Study Hits Confusion
And Overlapping Of
Department Powers
By Mary Lou Werner

+
By Mary Lou Werner
Reorganization and expansion
of Alexandria's Traffic Control
Department is recommended In
the latest Of q series Of studies
OF the city government made
public today.
The { report. prepared by the
lGovernment Consulting Service
Of the Wharton Institute at the
University Of Pennsylvania, finds
duplication, overlapping and
confusion Of power, duties and
authority Of the Traffic and
Parking Board. the director Of
traffic. city manager and the
chief OF the Police Traffic Com
mission under Alexandria's pres
ent setup."
Principal recommendations
are:
/. The Traffic and Parking
Board should be reconstructed
into a purely advisory group with
no administrative duty. It's chief
function should be advice on the
preparation and continuing re-
view of a comprehensive traffic
and parking plan. -" At pres
ent, the board has a number of
administrative powers.
2. Reorganization OF the Traf-
flc Control Department into two
major divisions-one for traffic
surveys. planning and design,
and the other for construction
and maintenance. Both divisions
should be under the traffic di-
rector, but a trained traffic en-
gineer should be employed to as
sist him with planning.
8. Provide specially trained
personnel for traffic signal in
Stallation and timing.
4. Reduce the, number of men
checking parking meters from
three to two,
S. Establish an effective Sys-
tenn of accident reporting.
s. Provide better coordination
between traffic control, public
works. and police and electrical
inspection.
4. Consider establishment of
driver training courses in the
public schools.
8. Divest the department from
the responsibility of responding
to weddings. funerals, and other
similar activities which impinge
on personnel time required for
departmental functions.
80 Separate Items.
Altogether there are 80 sep
arate recommendations in the
report. covering new parking
rules and improvement for
maintaining records.
. The Surveyors found that in
the National Safety Councils
annual inventory and analysis
traffic safety survey in 1852 in
cities of comparable size, Alex
andria ranked 61st among 81
cities checked for traffic safety.
According to the report. Alex
andria appropriated SIPS per
capita last year Ito finance the
fight against traffic deaths. in
juries and traffic congestion.
The surveyors recommend at
least 81 per capita is needed.
They suggest a traffic control
department budget of $4,000.
The total budget this year is
$87, 900, with $4,000 extra in
the contingency fund for new
lights and $4,000 for a one
way street system.
One-Way Street Plan Offered.
The report also recommends
a system of one-way streets to
solve some of the downtown con-
gestion. This already has been
prepared by the city and Is ex-
pected to be placed in operation
soon with money set up in the
budget.
The report is particularly
critical of accident analysis. Ac-
cording to the surveyors, this
task is shared by the traffic di-
rector and the police chief, and
says that considerably greater
Qualification and coordination
of the functions Of these two
departments relative to accident
reporting and analysis are
needed"