Evening star., 1955-05-13
THE METROPOLITAN VIEWPOINT
Growing Troffic SnorI
Confronts Entire Area

Alexandria city limits, the traf-
fic flow on Shirley highway last
year was 1850 cars a day. In
1850 it was 16,773.
Even with three major inter
changes under construction in
1854, Arlington boulevard av-
eraged more than 81 900 vehicles
a day between Fort Myer drive
and Tenth street.
On Bladensburg road last year,
$4,000 vehicles rolled across the
District line every "a hours. In
the same period, 34,700 crossed
the line on Rhode Island ave-
nue. and $1,000 more on the
brand-new Baltimore Washing
ton Parkway. Even so, these
arteries were outdone by Wis
consin and Georgia avenues,
each of which had counts ex-.
ceeding $4,000 per day.
The Baltimore Washington
Parkway illustrates how the
whole community benefits from
good planning and execution
of highway programs.
Greenbelt Time Slashed
1t used to take residents of
Greenbelt more than 80 minutes
to drive the devious route into
Washington. Using the park
way, they now ride across the
District line in II minutes. Many
of the 1000 residents find it ad-
vantageous to form car pools.
Others use the towns shuttle
bus from Greenbelt to Branch
vile, where they board Capital
Transit streetcars or buses of
the Greyhound and TrailWay
companies.
Although no immediate re-
lief is ahead for traffic and
highway problems, there is real
hope in the future. The District,
Maryland and Virginia all have
plans that should ease the
metropolitan headache.
One of paramount Importance
is the Districts long-range
project for an inner loop" in
the crowded downtown business
section. This will be a limited
access expressway of six and
eight lanes.
The reason for this loop is
clear: No matter how well
Maryland and Virginia handle
their highway building and traf-
fic, there will be bottlenecks un-
less the District copeS with the
traffic flowing from the two
States.
Results Years Away
Construction will start on the
downtown loop toward the end
of 1855. Completion will require
many years and many millions
of dollars, but when it is finished.
there will be an expreSsway that
runs as follows:
From South Capitol street
westward along F street S.W. to
the Fourteenth street bridges;
thence to Lincoln Memorial:
northward beneath Washington
Circle to T or u street NV:
eastward to Florida avenue and
thence to Third street NV;
southwark to F street S.W.
Important in Maryland will
be the new Route 240, an ex-
pressway from Rockville to
Cabin John, where it links with
the long planned George WASH
ington Memorial Parkway. 1t
will feed traffic to Conneeticut
and Wisconsin avenues, Bradley
boulevard and River road, all of
which will be improved.
Widening to four-lane thor
oughfares is planned for Viers
Mill road. Old Bladensburg road
and New Hampshire avenue.
The Washington Annapolis
freeway. already begun, is NOV
ing toward the District. The
freeway and the Baltimore park
way will connect with a new Dis
trict highway to the East Capitol
Street Bridge, which opens next
fall. South Of the bridge, the
District will develop the Ana
costa parkway.
or Prime Importance
Some planners regard Mary
lands program for a circum-
ferential inter county belt hign-
way as of prime, Importance. The
divided, four lane road-with
limited access-will form an arc
around the District in Montgom-
cry aid Prince Georges. The ter
minals will be at bridgeheads in