Evening star., 1955-05-13
BY JOHN V. HORNER

Metropolitan Washingt o n
spends a million man-hours a
day getting to and from its work.
For practically everybody, this
is one of life's big headaches.
And unfortunately. no immediate
relief is in sight because traffic
constantly worsens.
In the mass movement of the
labor force between home and
Office, the community is losing
more than time; it also suffers
a staggering annual loss in lives
and property.
Furthermore, it loses its COL
lective temper each morning and
afternoon. How much that af-
fects health. happiness and the
pursuit of business has never
been accurately calculated.
Transportation. traffic and
highways are related problems
of the kind that link the inter-
ests of all l8 million people now
living in Metropolitan Washing
ton. The conditions in each of
our political Jurisdictions directly
affect those in all the others.
Two Cases
Suburbanites who work down.
town must drive to their jobs or
rely on public transportation.
For Clyde Franklyn, who lives
in Cherrydale, the problem is not
difficult. He belongs to a car
pool and gets to his office in Is
or 20 minutes by using the
George Washington Parkway.
S. H. Johnson is not so fortu-
nate. In the rush traffic around
7::30 am. he needs up to so
minutes to cover the 13 miles
from his Fairfax rambler to the
Federal Triangle. Whereas, Mr..
Franklyn parks free on Gov
eminent lot, Mr.. johnson pays
$125 day to keep the car at
Wrinkle Tenders. Inc.
One of Mr.. Johnson's Office
colleagues, who lives in Silver
Spring. allows As minutes to ride
a Capital Transit bus downtown
from Georgia and Alaska ave-
nues. in the rush hour. If he's
willing to spend 80 cents instead
of a 16-cent token to take an
express, the man can cut his time
by Is minutes.
Washingtonians get to work
in a variety of ways: BY auto
mobile, bus, streetcar, taxi,
motorbike, bicycle and footing it.
For some, it takes longer than
residents of the nearby suburbs.
For example, a man living on
Mississippi avenue Sc. making
transfers between buses, can
easily spend 40 minutes reach
ing the Triangle at rush hour.
Some bus passengers in Alexan-
dria and Arlington make their
trips in 20 minutes.
The townsman. however, usu-
ally gets the better break on
fare costs.
Facilities Overburdened
The growth of Metropolitan
Washington has overtaxed all
forms of transportation and vir-
tually all road systems. In
March Capital Transit alone
hauled l,654,000 passengers a
day-300,000 during every rush
hour.
Within the last IA years auto
mobile registrations in the area
almost doubled. They rose from
100000 in 194l to 100000 this
year.
The Virginia section. embrac-
ing Alexandria. Arlington, Falls
Church and Fairfax. showed the
biggest gain. percentage-wise
The registrations there jumped
from $4,000 in 1941 to 10000
at present
The Maryland section also con-
tributed heavily to the upswing
Montgomery and Prince Georges
Counties had 10000 registrations
in l94l and now have 10000
In the District, the figures are
l72,000 in l94l and 207 900 now
Every motorist knows how
these increases affect traffic.
Shirley highway. once a de-
lightful dream. is at times q
dreadful nightmare. Just four
years ago, the Shirley stretch
from the Pentagon to Glebe road
carried 26,000 cars a day. Last
year it handled 44:500 a day
That's an average of nearly
1000 vehicles every hour.
Between Glebe road and the