(3) This Commission's proposal is in accord with the act creating the NCTA, wherein it is stated in part (sec. 1-1406): The Agency (b) shall in the preparation of the transit development program, give special consideration to (1) expanded use of existing facilities and services, including expanded use and development of existing railroad lines into the District of Columbia * * *, and (2) early development of a subway from Union Station capable of rapid dispersal of passengers from the railhead to the principal employment centers in the District of Columbia * * * and capable of being extended to serve other parts of the region * (4) This Commission's first stage proposed system can be extended to "serve other parts of the region" as the need arises. In determining such need, valuable experience could be gained from the firststage operations recommended herein. (5) The completion of the first stage of the transit development program and of the current highway program will remove the downtown traffic problem for several years and thus will enable more precise planning based on experience and a more up-to-date traffic pattern, for future transit development. (6) On the assumption that the first stage of the rail transit development program will prove successful, the Commission's recommendations provide an orderly and logical approach to an area wide mass transit system. (7) This Commission reaffirms its earlier views with regard to mass transportation for the region except as to the modified rail experiment proposed herein. (8) The Commission has not attempted to comment specifically on the extremely brief financial table (app. A) accompanying H.R. 8929. However, that the Commission is in drastic disagreement with the revenue projections is clearly implicit in the foregoing discussions. By direction of the Commission: DELMER ISON, Executive Director. CITY OF FALLS CHURCH Hon. JOHN L. MCMILLAN, FALLS CHURCH, VA., October 30, 1963. Chairman, Committee on the District of Columbia, DEAR CONGRESSMAN MCMILLAN: Transmitted herewith is the original and 15 copies of a resolution adopted by the City Council of Falls Church, Va., on October 29, 1963. The resolution reaffirms the council's support of the rapid transit program and recommends passage of H.R. 8929. The mayor or his representative will be happy to appear before the committee in support of the proposed legislation if necessary. This will confirm my conversation with your secretary today. Sincerely yours, HARRY E. WELLS, City Clerk. RESOLUTION Whereas the Council of the City of Falls Church on January 14, 1963, and August 27, 1963, unanimously endorsed the program of the National Capital Transportation Agency and recommended that the Congress of the United States authorize and provide funds for the commencement of such a program; and Whereas the council still considers that a rapid transit system is essential to relieve the steadily increasing congestion of streets and highways and provide rapid, economical transportation for commuters; and Whereas proposed bill H.R. 8929 provides for development of modified rapid transit plan which could later be extended into northern Virginia jurisdictions; Now, therefore, the Council of the City of Falls Church reaffirms its support of the rapid transit program and recommends passage of H.R. 8929. Adopted October 29, 1963, by the City Council of the City of Falls Church, Va. A true copy teste: [SEAL] HARRY E. WELLS, City Clerk. MONTGOMERY COUNTY CITIZENS PLANNING ASSOCIATION Hon. BASIL WHITENER, Chairman, Subcommittee No. 6, House District Committee, Washington, D.C. DEAR CONGRESSMAN: On behalf of the Montgomery County Citizens Planning Association, I appeared on July 31 to support the legislation then before your committee to authorize the National Capital Transportation Agency to proceed with development of a transit system to serve the Washington metropolitan region. The planning association now wishes to endorse and urge all possible support for the plan you and your committee have offered as the important beginning phase of this undertaking. In this connection, I have been particularly gratified to see the testimony of Mr. Donald Gingery before the Fallon committee of the Public Works Committee. On July 9, speaking for the Maryland State Roads Commission as well as for the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission of which he is a member, Mr. Gingery reported that those two organizations support a program substantially the same as the Whitener plan. As far as I can see, the only difference is that you have added the spur to Rosslyn. This endorsement by the agencies whose views will be, in this matter, those of the Governor of Maryland, is the more welcome since it accords so well with the views of the citizens groups with which I am familiar, including, of course, the planning association. Very truly yours, RAMSAY WOOD, President, Montgomery County Citizens Planning Association. 25-175-63- -5 NORTHERN VIRGINIA REGIONAL PLANNING AND ECONOMIC ARLINGTON, VA., October 31, 1963. Re modified NCTA transit proposal. Hon. BASIL WHITENER, Chairman, Subcommittee No. 6, House Committee on the District of Columbia, SIR: At its October 24, 1963, meeting the Northern Virginia Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission approved in concept an early start on a first phase rapid rail transit system to serve Washington, D.C., and the Rosslyn and Pentagon areas of northern Virginia, with the stipulation that there also be reservation and/or acquisition of adequate and necessary right-of-way in corridors such as Interstate Route 66 through Arlington and Fairfax Counties to accommodate future phase extensions of rapid transit lines into the northern Virginia region. Very truly yours, DOROTHY C. S. STARR Chairman. ALEXANDRIA, BARCROFT & WASHINGTON TRANSIT Co., DOING BUSINESS AS A.B. & W. TRANSIT Co.-JOINT STATEMENT OF ROBERT T. MITCHELL, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL MANAGER, AND S. HARRISON KAHN, ITS COUNSEL, RE H.R. 8929 Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, these remarks are tendered respectfully with respect to H.R. 8929, a modification of H.R. 7249, treating with the construction and acquisition of limited rapid transit facilities for the District of Columbia. These remarks are submitted in behalf of the Alexandria, Barcroft & Washington Transit Co., doing business as A.B. & W. Transit Co., Alexandria, through Mr. Robert T. Mitchell, the carrier's executive vice president and general manager, and S. Harrison Kahn, Esq., the company's counsel. These gentlemen testified before your committee on Thursday, July 25, 1963, upon the assigned hearings on H.R. 6633 and H.R. 7249. Mr. Mitchell and Mr. Kahn reaffirm their earlier statements to your committee and in this opportunity to present further comments, direct their attention to H.R. 8929. It must be observed initially that the modified proposal for rapid transit facilities has abandoned extensive routes in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the question is now logically posed as to the need for any spur service across the Potomac River to the proposed limited points and placed along the south shore of the Potomac River. The modified proposal by the National Capital Transportation Agency depicts a route serving the Pentagon and Pentagon City. Where is Pentagon City? What are the compelling reasons to spend large sums of money to serve a nonexistent city? A cursory examination of the area south of the Pentagon does not disclose the existence of any large concentration of persons or businesses. Clearly, there is no political entity presently designated as "Pentagon City," nor are there any foreseeable concentrations of persons or places of employment that require the large acknowledged expenditures required by the National Capital Transportation Agency to build facilities. The modified proposal by NCTA has also eliminated a loop that was formerly projected south of G Street NW., in the District of Columbia between 12th Street and the Union Station. A realistic evaluation of the existing services of A.B. & W. Transit Co., presently serving the Pentagon and the area presumably embraced in the mythical "Pentagon City," will conclusively establish that the present patronage of A.B. & W. will continue to use that carrier's facilities for transportation to and from the District of Columbia. Clearly, persons utilizing the flexible transportation facilities of A.B. & W. will not debark in Virginia for a circuitous, inconvenient supplemental ride into the District of Columbia to stations more distant than the passengers' destinations that can presently be easily, conveniently, and directly served by A.B. & W. For the limited number of persons who may desire to use the rapid transit facilities in the District of Columbia, suitable and convenient connections between A.B. & W. and the rapid transit system can be arranged in the District. Why, then, is there a need to construct expensive and obviously unnecessary rapid transit facilities to the Pentagon? As noted in Mr. Mitchell's statement of July 25, 1963, there are approximately 26,000 persons employed in the Pentagon Building, but there are also approximately 12,000 parking spaces available free of charge to the occupants of that building. Whatever form of mass transportation is made available to the occupants of the Pentagon, it need not be lengthily argued that the 12,000 free parking places are going to be utilized. The experience of A.B. & W. demonstrates that during the past several years the problem of transporting persons to and from the Pentagon has become more of an intra-Virginia problem and less of an interstate problem. This condition results from employees moving to communities closer to their place of employment. In support of this view, A.B. & W. presently is transporting many more persons to and from the Pentagon from and to Virginia points than are transported from points outside of the Commonwealth of Virginia. And it is only reasonable to predict that an increasingly larger number of employees at the Pentagon will become residents of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The continuing interest of A.B. & W. is to render the best transportation system at economical cost under competent, efficient management. The unnecessary and costly construction of the National Capital Transportation Agency's limited spur into the Pentagon and so-called Pentagon City area will have some economic impact upon A.B. & W. A reappraisal of the economic feasibility of the construction of a limited spur is suggested in view of the decision to abandon the initially proposed route to Springfield and Fairfax, Va. The interest of A.B. & W. is to preserve its ability to continue to render reasonable and adequate service. This committee is requested respectfully to weigh the interest of the many thousands of constant riders of the A.B. & W. buses. There is presently no complaint with the quantity or quality of service between the District of Columbia, on the one hand, and, on the other, the Pentagon. Under the direction and jurisdiction of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Commission, the bus companies in the Washington metropolitan district have established interline transportation at a reasonable fare. Improvements in this service are foreseeable. Thus, any unnecessary and unneeded diversion of any traffic from the A.B. & W. Transit Co. must inevitably result in some diminution or contraction of its facilities. Is there a need, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, for this huge outlay of capital funds for the construction of a tunnel beneath the Potomac River to serve the Pentagon and a nonexistent "Pentagon City"? What are the traffic potentials for the use of this costly spur in light of the abandonment of the loop in downtown Washington hereinbefore described? It cannot be reasonably advanced that the costly tunnel beneath the Potomac will be utilized, in part, for a spur to Rosslyn and for that reason it is justified. The committee and its members need merely to view the area on the south side of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, commonly referred to as Rosslyn, to question the need for expensive rapid transit facilities to a limited commercial area. Clearly, any traffic survey utilized by the National Capital Transportation Agency to support the economical construction and use of facilities to Rosslyn and the Pentagon and Pentagon City must be reviewed because of the substantially altered routes in the District of Columbia, the State of Maryland, and the Commonwealth of Virginia. The A.B. & W. does not oppose the construction of the proposed transit facilities within the District of Columbia as may be concluded as necessary and expedient. A.B. & W. shall and desires to arrange convenient interchange between its suburban facilities and those facilities constructed and operated by the National Capital Transportation Agency. It is respectfully contended that the two principal suburban bus companies presently serving the northern sector of the Commonwealth of Virginia and the District of Columbia are offering reasonable and adequate transportation services and facilities. Additional transPotomac bridge crossings now under construction and contemplated, and announced arterial highway improvements in the District of Columbia and the northern sector of the Commonwealth of Virginia insure more efficient and more flexible motorbus service. These adequate, convenient, flexible services connected with a rapid transit facility in the District of Columbia will insure adequate transportation for persons traveling to and from Virginia, to and from the District of Columbia, and elsewhere. The A.B. & W. Transit Co., its management and counsel, wish to again express their appreciation for this opportunity to submit these remarks upon H.R. 8929. |