Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-08-28
'Streetcor Underposses
Seen Suitable for Buses
Cost of Alterations Will Be Reasonable
If Tracks Are Token Up, Officials Soy

lsouthernmost end, Mr.. Robert
son said. But the 19-foot width
lof the roadway should cause no
trouble to bus drivers. he added.
This terminal, built in 1913 al
a cost of $2.5 million, extends
about 900 feet directly beneath
Fourteenth street.
Mr.. Robertson said that there
lis a possibility Of introducing a
ramp from c street into the
Terminal to route buses to and
from the East sections Of the
city, as well as north on Four
tenth. This would remove q
Istreet-surface terminal now To-
Gated on C at Fourteenth.
The streetcar-onl underpass
lalong c street under the Capitol
grounds between New Jersey and
Delaware avenues would probably
be widened S or 6 feet over its
present 35-foot width. This would
mean relocating the north wall
Iof the 200-foot-long underpass
which runs between the foun-
Itains and the Capitol's under
|groun dgarage. Original cost of
the structure, built about Is
years ago, was less than 500, 900.
Key Bridge Plans
The Highway Department,
meanwhile, is proceeding with
plans to widen and raise the
roadway of Key Bridge. In this
improvement program, Capital
Transit has the choice of either
tearing out its streetcar tracks
when construction starts or of
standing the expense of raising
the track level to conform to the
proposed new road level.
AS with all the bridges carry
ing streetcar lines here, tracks
on Key Bridge must be removed
sooner or later, Mr.. Robertson
lsaid. He explained that paving
over tracks is unsatisfactory. For
one thing. the surfacing material
laid on top Of tracks Is too thin
and ultimately cracks. For an
other the three-to-four-foot
depth Of the third-rail transit
system interferes with the under
ground layout Of other utilities,
including sewer and water.
There are now only three
bridges here that still have
streetcar lines operating over
them. In addition to Key, these
are Pennsylvania avenue over
Rock Greek and Monroe street
over the Baltimore g. Ohio Rail-
road In the Northeast.
Bridges Torn Down
The history Of track removal
from Washington's bridges shows
for the most part that the tracks
disappeared only when the bridge
was torn down.
In that category:
The old Aqueduct Bridge
across the Potomac, which once
carried the Washington & Old
Dominion electric railway from
Georgetown to points in Vir-
ginia, was torn down except for
the piers in the 1920s.
Old Pennsylvania Aven
Bridge, once carrying a short
line from Seventeenth street Sc.
to District points across the
Anacostia, destroyed for replace
ment by the Sousa Bridge in
1899.
/ Old Calvert Street Bridge,
which accommodated streetcar
lruns between downtown and
Chevy Chase via Connecticut
avenue. replaced in 1913.
I p Street Bridge over Rock
Creek, tracks disappeared when
10 replacement bridge was built
lin 1889.
Old M Street Bridge over Rock
Greek, replaced in 1929 when the
streetcar line shifted to the
nearby Pennsylvania avenue
crossing.
Tracks have been removed
from only three bridges still
standing. These are the Four
teenth Street Bridge, which re-
ceived a new deck in 1928 and
lost the tracks Of the old Wash
Iington & Alexandria electric
railway in the process; the Con-
Inecticut Avenue Bridge over
Klingle Valley and the Benning
Road Bridge-the latter in l948
when Capital Transit voluntarily
converted that line to buses.
Only in the case Of the
Eleventh Street Bridge over the
Anacostia were the tracks paved
over. This state lasted only a
few years. When the surface
proved slippery the tracks were
removed leaving the plugged up
plow-slot, which still remains
lcovered. 80