Milford chronicle., 1954-07-16
Warburton Tells of
Projecta Progress
Io0ntinued Co - -

tt0ALllNe4 from lifst DAkcl
heretofore applied to the, ,construc-
tion Of ST. Georges Bridge"
The Corps of Engineers advised
the Public Works Committee at its
earlier hearing at which Mr. War
burton made his motion to include
this language that it involved an
estimated $500. 10000 in bridge con-
struction costs. If the Omnibus Bill,
as it is finally passed into law, re-
tains Mr.. WarburtOn's language,
the State viii be relieved of con-
trihuting this estimated sum.
Mr.. Warburton also stated that
the Omnibus Bill included authori-
zation for improving the Mispillion
River from the Delaware River to
Milford. The estimated cost is
$469.000. Mr. Warburton referred
this matter to the residents of the
Milford area 0R June z, and re-
quested that they advise him as to
whether the project was still gem
orally desired, because some local
opposition had been reported to
him. Mayor Edward c. Evans, with
whom Mr. Warburton has been
working on the matter, called a
public meeting for July 80 in an
effort to determine public sentis
ment,
"The fact that the House Public
Works Committee has today voted
to pass this Information item to the
House in usual course does not
affect Mayor Evans nne effort to
secure the present status of public
opinion upon this projects desir-
ability, and to thereby assist Del
aware's Delegation" Mr.. Warbur-
ton said. 1.-THE Public Works Com
mittee's consideration Of the Mis-
pillion item resulted from the
Corps Of Engineers favorable 1860
report. Since it's harded to get an
item into the bill than ii is to get
it out, as we all know. it seemed
wiser to me to keep it in, here on
the House side, pending Mayor
Evans public hearing, than to re-
move it and try to get it re-instated
at later date if the majority at
Milford favOrs the project. If Mayor
Evans indicates that the expression
Of his public meeting is against
continuing the project, it can be
halted even though this opinion is
not determined until after this Con-
gress has authorized the project"
Mr.. WarburtOn pointed out that
this Omnibus Bill is the first one
which has been submitted to the
Congress since 1949. That bill,
which was in the total amount of
$1017, 100000, exceeded the present
bill by over $30O,0O0,0OO. The 1854
bill, as it is now ready to report
to the House, is in the total
amount Of 1892, 100000, covering IS
rivers and harbors projects. %
beach erosion projects based upon
completed cooperative surveys.
and SO food control projects.
Mr.. WarburtOn, when asked
whether he thought he could keen
his language with respect to the
amount of DelaWare's contribution
to the bridge-cOsts in the bill when
It went to the House floor, replied
"a AAAC AAA4LANEs
Il think we're going to have a
fight on IL, he said. After all. the
standard by which we seek to mea-
sure the amount Of our local con-
trihution appears to directly re-
verse the standard usually applied
to similar projects, az least on the
surface. Ordinarily, the size Of the
States contribution depends in
great part upon the fact that the
State receives a considerable bene-
fit from the improvement, and the
Chief Of Engineers has attempted
to measure our contribution on
that basis. The Chief Of Engineers
has the duty to bring the State in
where he can and his position is
entirely justiiable where the Corps
Of Engineers improves an already
existing river, for example. and in
the course Of the improvement
builds a new bridge which, the State
would otherwise have to build
wholly a it's own expense. But we
in Delaware know that is not our
situation, and we further know
what our legal position is with re-
gard to building bridges over the
canal
"The members Of the Public
Works Committee read Governor
Boggs' letters, listened to Colonel