Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-11-21

toward an mCegraJeQ COM
plete subway system. The
original Meta plan proposed
a complete closed loop within
the downtown area and al
lowed radial lines to feed
into this loop as the spokes
do into a wheel. More Spokes
or more radial lines can be
added in the future and thus
the subway system can be
enlarged as the commuter
needs become apparent.
To build only half of the
loop does not make good en-
cheering planning nor good
sense from the public point
of view. Instead Of tearing up
the downtown area once for
a period Of perhaps three or
four years, we will now have
the downtown area torn up
two or three times for a pc
Rod Of three or four years
each time. This is not in the
best interest of the citizens of
the Metropolitan Area. Traf-
fic congestion will be great
and the longer the area is
torn up the more nerves will
be tangled and the more
problems and business dis
ruption and interruption 1t
will cause.
We earnestly request that
the Whitener Subcommittee
and the Presidents Policy
Advisory Committee consider
the completion Of the central
inner-loop of su ways as
part of the first step rather
than cutting this loop in
half. As The Star so ably
puts it, Lets move forward"
Let's proceed with sound adj
vice and good engineering
decisions. Let's not be gov
erned by the requirement Of
halving the initial appropria-
lions required. Everyone
wants to get on with the pro-
gram. Let's get it started on
the right foot.
Frank WOlfSheimer,
Civic Committee, D. C. Soc
iety of Professional En-
gineerS.
- 50
The official notice said
that "the Commissioners of
the District of Columbia will
hold a public h e airing" on
November Is on certain pro-
posals Of the District High
way Department. None Of the
District Commissioners were
there. Not even the latest
addition to the floating crap
game, Gen. Duke, who Is
supposed to be in charge Of
the Highw ay Department,
was there. Some pleasant
Army colonel seemed to be
the only one available for the
chore. This was probably not
the shabbieSt treatment ever
received by District residents
but 1t was pretty shabby.
OF courS e the AAA, the
Trucking Association and the
Airport Transport represent
atives got right up In the
front row and led off with
nice statements on how
peachy all these highway
Improvements" were going
to be. 1t would have been
surprising If they hadn't. The
only opposition Of conse-
quence came from a fellow
who seemed to know a little
bit of the history of high
ways and streets in the Dis
trict but his opposition took
the form Of questions that
seemed too hot to answer.
The solution to that was for
the Army colonel to rule out
all questions. He was nice
about it though. Seems that
questions were out of order
because it would upset the
decorum of the ritual.
There were perhaps rs
people present and it's my
guess that the majority were
not in favor of all the high
way Improvements" but
with no questions allowed,
their opposition was effec-
lively silenced. Whatever
written opposition there was
must have been in those let
tiers the Army colonel passed,
one by one, to the recording
secretary at the start of the
meeting. 1t would have been
interesting to know what was
in them. I guess I'll never
know.
Overall, the hearing was a
pretty bum show.