problems have been solved by spacing and forced ventilation. And airspace is often sufficiently less expensive than the acquisition of nearby land to more than compensate for the additional construction costs.

Mr. Chairman, as an example of the kinds of problems solved and of the opportunities offered by the use of air rights, I would like to relate Philadelphia's experience with three separate projects. One of these projects was built over a railroad yard, and two others are planned over major expressways. All three are located in the central business district of Philadelphia.

One of the most dramatic projects in modern Philadelphia is the development of Penn Center over railroad tracks in downtown Philadelphia. This is a complex of buildings designed in a setting of open space on an old eyesore-site immediately west of city hall. As developed it already includes three 20-story, slab-type office buildings and a fourth in planning; a 1,000-room luxury Sheraton Hotel; a transportation center combining an underground Greyhound bus terminal; a four-level, 1,000-car garage and an 18-story office tower; a luxury apartment building and one cooperative apartment house. A pleasant esplanade runs between the buildings in the complex, providing an attractive setting for the buildings and for pedestrians in the downtown area. Underground, the buildings are connected by a concourse which leads to the bus terminal and the Pennsylvania suburban railroad station, and to subway stations. The concourse also contains a variety of stores, an ice skating rink, and sunken gardens.

Prior to the development of the Penn Center complex, the railroad tracks were on a raised structure known as the "Chinese wall," which carried the tracks to the Broad Street Station of the Pennsylvania Railroad. It was an exceedingly ugly use of the land and had a blighting influence on a major shopping area to the south. It also separated the commercial areas to the north and south of it. The railroad began demolishing the old station and Chinese wall in 1952, initiating a tremendous facelifting for center city. Probably no larger single area-about 23 acres had become available for changed use in the center of a large American city in this century.

Not only has this project provided a considerable increase in tax revenues to the city and replaced an eyesore with an attractive development; it has given a tremendous boost to the rejuvenation of center city. The whole shopping area to the south of the project has been gradually acquired in recent years for new office and commercial development. One of these new developments will be the largest office building ever constructed in Philadelphia, a 32-story structure housing almost a million square feet of office space. In total, the new developments to the south of Penn Plaza are expected to total almost $100 million. It should be added that this is all private investment, calling for no Federal assistance.

Senator TYDINGS. I think we ought to incorporate these two Penn Center pictures-Penn Center, before and Penn Center, after-at this point in the record for a better understanding of the testimony. Mr. MCLAUGHLIN. Thank you.

(The two photos are as follows:)

Mr. MCLAUGHLIN. Not only has Penn Center been an important asset to the residents of the city of Philadelphia, but it has provided the railroad with an important source of income. In addition, it has made prime space available to private developers and made it possible for them to secure a sizable site in a single transaction, without having to go through the painful process of assembling many individual parcels of land. The use of air rights has also been accomplished without demolishing existing structures or relocating present tenants.

A second Philadelphia project which involves the use of air rights is in the active planning stage. This is the construction of a landscaped cover over the Delaware Expressway, a U.S. highway, and over an adjacent State highway, Delaware Avenue. As originally planned the expressway would have divided the historic city from the waterfront. On one side of the highway would be the Penns Landing project which

is a vital link to the restoration of the waterfront, and of great importance to the city and region. This project calls for the construction of two visitor centers, a substantial new hotel, a 30-story world trade center, a yacht basin for historic and private vessels, a river-related museum, and a science museum. On the other side of the highway would be the Independence National Historical Park and an old historic neighborhood.

In recent years, there has been considerable Federal expenditure to rehabilitate the Nation's historic shrines, including Independence Hall, located in the Independence National Historical Park. The park has evolved into an attractive and suitable setting for these important buildings. This project has also served to promote one of Philadelphia's major growth industries, the tourist industry. To the south of the park is Society Hill, a residential area to which a large number

of families have moved back into Philadelphia, spending considerable money restoring old houses to their original colonial architectural style. What was once a badly decaying neighborhood has become a fine residential area. The decor of the neighborhood has been of great interest to visitors from all over the Nation.

Considerable thought and effort had gone into the overall planning of the riverfront, the Independence National Historical Park and Society Hill, and to divide them by the expressway would have had disastrous consequences. When the plans for the expressway were announced, a citywide organization sprung up to protest, and swelled into a regional, statewide, and finally a national movement which resulted in a plan to cover the Delaware Expressway at this point.

The landscaped cover will include an active recreation area related to the nearby residential neighborhood paved areas and fountains, and a large public green and garden for public use. The open space will also be used to stage appropriate activities for visitors who come to visit the national shrines. Covering 10 lanes of the expressway and four lanes of the avenue, the 1,750-foot-long cover will provide both physical and visual unity between the river front, Independence National Historical Park and the adjacent historical neighborhood.

In any plan to cover a portion of a highway or railroad tracks, or otherwise utilize air space, there are generally many factors affecting the decision to use the air rights. However, there is also often one outstanding reason for such a decision. In the case of the Penn center project over the railroad tracks, perhaps the major reason was economic. In the case of the cover for the Delaware Expressway the outstanding reason related to the historic nature of the area affected. In the case of the third project I will mention, the social consequences of the effects of the proposed expressway is the overriding factor influencing our thinking regarding possible use of air space. No formal proposals have been made for the financing of this project, and we are only beginning exploration of the possibility of covering portions of the expressway, but it is worth noting this case as it serves as a good example of another kind of local problem creating demand for the use of air rights.

The proposed highway cuts through the heart of the city just south of the central business district. At this point, the highway will be about 212 miles in length, and will be an eight lane depressed highway with 20-foot medial strip and 60-foot-wide grassy slopes. It will displace some 6,000 individuals, or roughly 2,400 households, of whom between 30 to 40 percent are low income and predominantly nonwhite.

The expressway will affect eight residential neighborhoods. The residents to the north of the line of the expressway are generally of higher income, while those to the south are largely Negro and a substantial number are of low income. The neighborhood associations from six of the eight communities have joined together with a number of concerned civic agencies in an effort to assure that the highway development is carried out in a manner which is beneficial to the affected neighborhoods. They have indicated that an expressway at this location can be acceptable only if it is designed as a depressed and covered road, with air space developed in such a way that it will benefit

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the entire crosstown community. They are concerned that the impact of the expressway upon the neighboring communities, and the dislocation caused by it, will be devastating, unless comprehensive plans for the joint development of highway and neighborhood are developed. They would like to see the air space developed with uses which unite rather than separate the neighborhoods, and they would like the development to be geared to the needs of the residents of both sides of the road, and in particular the needs of the low-income residents. They are concerned that the highway not serve as a strong physical and psychological barrier between the predominantly white and more affluent areas and the nonwhite neighborhoods, which will reinforce the pattern of segregation and make racial segregation permanent.

The city of Philadelphia, in keeping with the crosstown residents' wishes, is in the process of developing an overall plan for these communities, with special attention being given to available sites both north and south of the expressway route which can provide locations for housing, shopping centers, parking, recreation, schools, and other community facilities. It is hoped that the use of air rights for construction of amenities and facilities over the expressway will make it a force to relate the areas to the north and the south to each other. In their search for ways to increase their economic base, cities are looking closely at large open areas that have not been built up. In addition to the projects noted above, Philadelphia is exploring the possibility of building a platform over a reservoir that is strategically located in a prime commercial area and offers excellent potential for development. Our experts tell us that it will be perfectly sanitary, and in no way detrimental to good water supply, to build over the reservoir. Like many other cities, Philadelphia has large railroad yards which consume considerable ground area. Several of these large railroad yards are under study as development sites, and one close to Center City is in development as a commercial complex. The development of air rights over such prime locations offers a city an opportunity to take advantage of its central location to strengthen its economy.

Philadelphia is not the only city experimenting with the use of air rights. The existing and planned use of air rights are many and varied throughout the country. Like Philadelphia, other cities will have parks and playgrounds, office buildings, commercial uses, garages, and apartments over railroad tracks and expressways. In one city a municipal college has been proposed over railroad tracks and in another a school over an expressway. Elsewhere, public and private housing are proposed over schools. Parking and commercial space has been built over rivers. Parking decks have been built over city streets. Institutional facilities such as hospitals and museums have been suggested for the use of air rights, and heliports, and even small industries.

We expect that in the future we will see a continuing increased use of air rights in a variety of imaginative ways. As continued efforts are made to solve the cities' transportation problems, additional acres of land will be converted to transportaiton use. Prime land for development of public and private projects will be even more scarce in the future. Philadelphia and other American cities can well sympathize with the city of Washington as their dilemma is one that we share. Thank you.