Evening star., 1955-07-09
Quick Plea to Congress
On Island Span Planned

IAuCnoflzeQ span, blSectlng South
Island. the small tip of Roose-
welt Island.
Fine Arts Commission and
park officials, and Hermann
Hagedorn, Roosevelt Association
director, contended the span
should be farther upriver and
farther away from the monu-
mental Lincoln Memorial area.
Suggests Connecting Spans
Mr.. Wirth suggested that the
bridge route take a straight ex-
tension from the line of Consti-
tuition avenue NV. to a point
where South Island and Roose-
Ivelt Island proper are separated
10y water. He raised the possi-
Ibility of two bridges leading to
the island from the District and
Virginia shores. connecting
across the island.
MIR. Hagedorn indorsed this
proposal and said he thinks the
Roosevelt Association would go
along even with some minor en-
Icroachment on the island proper.
But city officials said the "two
bridge" idea was unavoidable,
mainly because 1t would not pro-
duce adequate clearance over
the Potomac navigation channel.
They also were pessimistic
about making adequate connec-
ltions in Virginia If the bridge
were moved as far upriver as Mr..
Wirth and Mr.. Hagerdorn sug-
gested. One difficulty, they said,
would arise in trying to make
adequate connections to the
George Washington Memorial
parkway in Virginia.
1t was agreed that technicians
from the park, city and planning
agencies would attempt to work
out such a route on Monday,
however.
Both Gen. Lane and Mr.. Wirth
agreed that a detailed plan need
not be on paper in order to ask
Congress next week to make the
minor legislative change.
| After the joint session, Gen.
Lane said he hopes the legisla-
ltion will be worded in such a
way that it would not kill the
bridge project in the event the
lisland-crossing idea should hit
a snag. If that should happen,
city officials want to be sure they
can go ahead with the span as
it Is now authorized.
Associations Letter
MFR. Hagedorn, in a letter to
Interior Secretary Mckay yes
Iterday, made it plain the Roose-
welt Associations change of heart
about a crossing of South Island
was reached only after consid-
erable soul-searching. 1t read
lin part:
ION the one hand they have
the obligation, bequeathed to
them by their predecessors, to
defend the integrity and sanctity
of the island as an area of wild
solitude in the very heart Of The
Nation the letter said.
ION the other. the trustees
recall the part that Mr.. Roosevelt
as President played in conserving
and developing the grand plan
of the National Capital. They
remember that he encouraged
supported and defended the Nc
MILAN Commission in its (1901)
efforts to salvage and revitalize
the L'Enfant plan, and that he
established the National Com
mission Of Fine Arts to watch
over the plans development in
the future.
Facing this dilemma, with
loyalty to their conception oil
their memorial on the one side
and the preservation of the
esthetic harmony Of the Nationa,
Capital on the other, the Execu.
tive Committee of the Associa.
Ition have recognized that, moi
only as American citizens prouc
of their Nations Capital city
but as trustees Of the association
loyal to the civic vision of the
man they seek TO commemorate
their paramount obligation is tc
the National Capital.
They have, therefore, agreed
to approve, in principle, the con.
struction Of a low-level bridge
across South Island. provided
that the proposed bridge shall be
named the Theodore Roosevelt
Bridge. that it provide access
TO the main island, and that its
design be approved by the Ma
Itional Commission Of Fine Arts