Evening star., 1962-09-16
ShirIeyRoad
Widening Set
AT S61 Million
Hearing Oct. a
To Air Project;
1863 Sturt Due
By LEE FLOR
Star Staff Writer

A price tag of $62 million for
widening and improving Shir-
ley highway has been set by a
eonsultant in a report released
yesterday.
The $62 million estimate
bmits any consideration of con-
btruction for express bus facili-
ties, which planners have rec
commended for the 17-mile
highway in Virginia since 1858.
The consultant's report will
be reviewed at a public hearing
October 4 at Lee High School
pear Springfield.
The National Capital Trans
portation Agency is withhold
dng its separate studies of ex-
press bus facilities until its
transit development program
Is released in November, thus
the public will get an incom-
plete peek at proposals for the
highway.
Six-Lane Highway
The Virginia Highway De-
partment next summer will
start construction to widen the
highway to six lanes between
Woodbridge and Springfield,
with completion due in 1865.
Officials estimate that work
on the remaining part of the
highway might start in 1864,
with construction spread over
the next five years.
/ The consultant estimates
that 500 million win be needed
kor the purchase of land for
right-of-way, mostly around
interchanges. Around $24 mil
lion win be needed for i'm
provements which are rec
ommended for Is interchanges
between Woodbridge and the
Potomac River. Ten bridges at
lnterchanges viii be replaced. s
The $62 million estimate also
includes $l.3 million to improve
the old Fourteenth street bridge /
TO handle traffic. L
The Highway DEPARTMENTS S
consultants were the New York
City firm Of Howard, Needles.
Tammen and Bergendoff. They I
were instructed to study the i'm '
provements without modifica- I
tions for mass transportation.
Bus Loading Studied
The Transportation Agency,
meanwhile, hired q separate 1
consulting firm, De Leuw, Ca 1
ther & Co., to make a study of "
special bus loading zones, park I
ing lots, and stations. /
De Leuw. Gather & Co. made :
q similar study for Shirley
highway in 1858, and recon-
mended eight stations and a
terminal costing $4.5 million. q
Warren d. Quenstedt, dep b
uty administrator Of the Trans +
portation Agency, said the 10
De Leuw, Gather report would
be considered in negotiations
with the Virginia officials, and
might never be considered at a (
public hearing. {
The latest DeLeuw, Gather re- r
port is due to be completed this q
month, but it viii not be made q
public until the transit devel- G
opment program is revealed in
November. c
The delay on figures and es- /
Inmates for buses was one rea- t
son behind the traffic jams
caused by traffic surveys on ]
Shirley highway last week. Of S
ficials said. +
Bus Passengers Counted 9
Last Wednesday morning,
Virginia Highway Department
workers halted buses to count I.
the, passengers. :
I'VE want to know the num- !
ber Of persons transported by
bus and relate it with the num-
ber transported by private
auto" Assistant Traffic Plan
ming, Engineer Kenneth M.
Wilkenson said in Richmond. :
The Highway Departments
consultants turned their report J
in on July 2. The report was
not released. until yesterday, {
pending review and comment
BY the Transportation Agency.
MIR. Quenstedt said his :
agency may come up with rec
concentrations that the two