Evening star., 1955-05-18
BY HECTOR MCLEAN

A plea for $65,000 to reha-
bilitate the 49-year-old Eleventh
street bridge across the Anacos-
tia River was denied by the
House Appropriations Commit
tee. an analysis disclosed today.
District Highway Department
officials said they will ask the
Senate to restore the funds to
their budget for the fiscal year
which begins July /.
All told, they will seek res
toration of $3,2O9, ,O00-the larg-
est cut suffered by any District
department. Most Of it-$2,980
000-was slashed out of the de-
partment's construction pro-
gram. However, the operating
budget was also cut $4,000,
second only in severity to the
reduction taken by the Depart
ment of Public Welfare.
S. R. Harrison. deputy high
way director, said the draw span
on the Eleventh street bridge
vibrates when motorists drive
across it. The span, he said, is
operated by the type of motors
and switches which once were
used on streetcars. For a long
time, broken and worn out parts
were replaced by those taken
from old street railway cars. he
added.
Must Make Them
Now, however, such cars are
no longer in use and replacement
parts cannot be found-they
have to be especially made, Mr..
Harrison said. The $65,000 was
requested for replacement Of the
obsolete draw equipment with
modern equipment to permit de-
pendable operation.
Some Of the cuts for which
restoration will be asked were
regarded by the committee as
only temporary. It held up SIS
million, for example, for a start
on the proposed Constitution
avenue bridge across the Poto-
mac river. until the Eisenhower
administration decides whether
to substitute tunnel.
The committee also refused to
approve $650.000 for widening
Constitution and independence
avenues alongside the Capitol
grounds until legislation to au-
thorize the work is approved by
Congress. On these projects, the
committee suggested pleas for
restoration to the Senate after
final authorization and decision.
Other less obvious cuts, how
ever. struck deeper into the de-
partment. A department spokes-
man pointed out the committee
had slashed $430,0o0 from $2.8
million requested for minor
capital outlay" The effect of
this, he said, would be a 20 per
cent cut in residential street
improvements now made by the
department.
He said a cut of 100000 out
of 1,550,00 requested for buy
ing rights-of-way would simply
slow down land purchases along
Florida avenue and other places,
delaying street and road prof.
ects planned under the city's
10-year, $305 million public
works program which was au-
thorized by Congress last year.
Street Lights Cut
Similarly, a cut of one-fourth
IA GllC p1OV,UUU 1CNuCcOCQ 4OA
street lighting facilities means
well have to construct new
roadways without proper light
ing"
In the operating budget, the
committee cut out $18,665 budg-
eted to pay salary increases
which became effective when
the Personnel Office upgraded
many of the departments en-
ployes last year. Presumably, the
committee wanted the depart
ment to absorb the sum by leav-
ing Jobs vacant.
The committee also deleted
$1,000 for a safety engineer to
find and eliminate occupational
hazards, despite the depart
ment's contention that many
man-hours are lost annually due
to accidents with q correspond