Evening star., 1960-07-04
New Buildings
Allowed inPatFl
OF Interchange
Five Structures
Face Demolition
In Alexandra
BY JOHN NEARY
Star STAFF Writer

posed Duke street. Telegraph
road interchange would require
demolition of more than a
quarter of a million dollars
worth of buildings privately
constructed since interchange
plans went on the drawing
boards early last year.
City officials issued, until as
recently as August IL, 1859,
building permits enabling bull
dozers to cut into more than
$400.000 worth of vacant land
in the interchange path along
Duke street.
Alexandria could have bought
rights-of-way earlier in the in
terchange area. However, to be
eligible for rs per cent Federal
and State reimbursement, the
land acquisition must not take
place until a public hearing
has been held and the project
scheduled by the State.
Saying they were powerless
to stop private building on land
they knew might be needed for
right-of-way, city officials
watched a light-industry fac
tory, two gas stations. a dough-
nut shop and an animal hos
pital addition rise in the path
of the proposed construction.
City Still POwerlesS
Even now, with a final plan |
in hand, after an outlay of |
nearly SIT, 900 and with a pub
lie hearing set for IL am. We'd |
nesday in the city council |
chambers. the strongest re-
strainer the city can place on
construction is this statement
from City Manager E. G. Heat
wole:
". The city may not enter
into any agreement to pur-
chase nor an option to pur-
chase. prior to the time the
State has held a public hear
ing, scheduled the project and
authorized the city to proceed.
I can only hope that any prop
erty owner with concrete plans
to develop his property might
cooperate with the city by de-
ferring such plans for this
period of time"
The city would build the
Duke Telegraph interchange
under the Federal urban aid
program, share-the-cost plan
in which the Government pays
so per cent, the State Is per
cent and the city rs per cent
of the cost.
Need Long Apparent
While the need for an inter-
change to carry traffic through
the intersection has been ap-
parent for years-"ever since
the two roads were connected"
a planning official Said-Vir-
ginia's enabling legislation
doesn't permit reserving right
of-way in advance of highway
construction.
Hamstrung by this lack of
legislative power, Alexandria
has been able only to warn
landowners in the area that the
interchange may affect them
and urge prospective builders
to hold off until plans for the
job are complete.
The current proposal, which
calls for a massive three-deck
network of ramps sprawling
over a 10-acre right-of-way,
grew out of a preliminary study
begun in January Of 1859 by
Hayes, Seay, Mattern & Mat
tern, a Washington engineer
ing firm.
In April, 1859, the engineers
came up with five interchange
proposals. The one they recon-
mended, estimated to cost ST.
723,000, called for widening
Duke street to two lanes east
and west.
Traffic Estimate Revised
The interchange was design
ed to handle an estimated
daily traffic load of $4,000 cars.
Businessmen who built on
the basis of that plan did not
reckon with revised traffic es-
Inmates.
When the engineers went
ahead with their final plan,
the daily traffic load estimate
had jumped to $4,000 cars go
ing through the intersection.
AS a result, the ramp curves
had to be made much wider,
and the whole interchange be-
came more elaborate.
In addition, the necessary
right-of-way became larger,
extending farther west along
See INTERCHANGE, Page B-1I