74TH CONGRESS 1st Session HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES { REPORT No. 881 OTTER CLIFFS RADIO STATION MAY 13, 1935.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed Mr. ROBINSON of Utah, from the Committee on the Public Lands, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany H. R. 7938] The Committee on the Public Lands, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 7938) to authorize the transfer of the Otter Cliffs radio station on Mount Desert Island in the State of Maine as an addition to the Acadia National Park, and for other purposes, after careful consideration of same report favorably thereon with the recommendation that the bill do pass the House without amendment. Facts concerning the proposed legislation are set forth in the favorable report of the Secretary of the Interior under date of April 27, 1935, which report is herein below set out in full and made a part of this report, as follows: Hon. RENÉ L. DEROUEN, Chairman Committee on the Public Lands, INTERIOR DEPARTMENT, House of Representatives. MY DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: Enclosed is a draft of a proposed bill to authorize the transfer of the Otter Cliffs radio station on Mount Desert Island in the State of Maine from the Navy Department to the Department of the Interior, as an addition to the Acadia National Park, and for other purposes. Under the act of April 22, 1932 (47 Stat. 91), authority was granted for the removal of the naval radio station from Mount Desert Island and its relocation in the Acadia National Park in connection with the Acadia Park motor road. Work on the radio towers and the station buildings has been completed and the radio station will be ready for operation at the new location in the near future. The purpose of section 1 of this proposed legislation is to authorize the Secretary of the Navy to transfer to the Department of the Interior as an addition to the Acadia National Park the tract of land containing approximately 12 acres on Mount Desert Island occupied by the old radio station, and to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to transfer to the Navy Department the present site and building in the Acadia National Park. Section 2 of the proposed legislation would authorize the Secretary of the Interior to construct a bridge or causeway across the inlet between Otter Cliffs and the Black Woods which is necessary to complete the park road system. It is respectfully requested that the proposed bill be placed before the House of Representatives for appropriate action. Sincerely yours, HAROLD L. ICKES, O TO AMEND AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR A UNION RAILROAD STATION IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES MAY 13, 1935.—Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed Mr. PATMAN, from the Committee on the District of Columbia, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany H. R. 7447] The Committee on the District of Columbia, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 7447) to amend an act to provide for a Union Railroad Station in the District of Columbia, and for other purposes, having considered the same, reported back to the House and recommend that the bill do pass with the following amendments: On page 2, line 13, strike out the words "the terminal company" and insert in lieu thereof "the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company and the Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad Company. On page 2, strike out all of line 22 after the word "bridge" and semi-colon, all of line 23, all of line 24, and all of line 25, and on page 3, all of lines 1, 2, and 3, and all of line 4 to the word "shall", and insert in lieu thereof the following: "the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company and the Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad Company shall pay in equal shares the entire cost and expense of the bridge structure including the necessary retaining walls and approaches in connection therewith between the southerly line of New York Avenue as now publicly owned, and the southerly line of Brentwood Road as now publicly owned; the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company and the Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad Company" On page 4, line 5, strike out "exclusive of all roadway and sidewalk paving". On page 4, line 9, change the comma after the word "properties" to a semicolon. On page 4, lines 9 and 10, strike out "exclusive of all roadway and sidewalk paving". Insert after section 2, a new section to be numbered 3, and to read as follows: SEC. 3. If this amendatory Act or any part thereof shall be declared invalid, so much of this Act as forbids the opening of Ninth, Twelfth, and Fifteenth Streets shall be void, and the duty of the terminal company referred to in said Act of Congress approved February 28, 1903, to construct suitable viaduct bridges and the approaches thereto to carry said streets over the railroads as required by said section 5 of said Act of February 28, 1903, as originally enacted, shall remain in full force and effect and unimpaired by this amendatory Act. The Terminal Act, as approved February 28, 1903, consolidated the various depots and other terminal facilities into one union station with consolidated terminal properties. Section 5 of the act closed most of the streets running northeast from the terminal station, and provided that four viaduct bridge crossings should be constructed in their stead east of Florida Avenue, to be located at New York Avenue, Ninth, Twelfth, and Fifteenth Streets. Of the bridges authorized, only the New York Avenue Bridge has been built. As the other three bridges were located to connect with New York Avenue extended east of Florida Avenue, decision as to their construction necessarily awaited the opening and improvement of New York Avenue between Florida Avenue and Bladensburg Road, which took place in 1931. About that time, studies of the highway system of the District indicated that the crossings at Ninth, Twelfth, and Fifteenth Streets as originally planned did not fit into the comprehensive major thoroughfare plan which had been developed. The National Capital Park and Planning Commission and the District Commissioners made extensive studies of this situation, called in additional expert advice, and as a result of these studies they recommend two crossings instead of the three, and in different locations than those called for in the original act. The basis for this proposed change is that the crossings at the two locations proposed by this bill will serve the public interest better than the three originally proposed in the Terminal Act. This conclusion was reached after careful investigation as to engineering and city planning features. It was found that the three original locations at Ninth, Twelfth, and Fifteenth Streets were not adapted to the plan of streets and avenues which now exists as a result of the many changes in the intervening 32 years, including a number of property developments and other circumstances adverse to the 1903 plan. Moreover, it was determined that the original locations would require unnecessarily long and high viaduct structures where the natural conditions of topography, etc., are not suitable from either an engineering or aesthetic point of view. The two proposed crossings are at the east end and the middle of the terminal yards and railroad tracks paralleling New York Avenue, the tracks at the west end being crossed by the New York Avenue Bridge already constructed, thus providing for crossings about threequarters of a mile apart. The eastern crossing is by an underpass at the junction of the Baltimore & Ohio and Pennsylvania Railroad tracks at the edge of the terminal property, and the middle crossing is by an overhead viaduct between high land on either side of the tracks and near the throat of the terminal yards. Both crossings serve radial and cross-town traffic needs, tie together existing main thoroughfares, and will thus further the development of the entire northeast section of the city. The proposed easterly crossing connects by a diagonal route Fourteenth Street at Rhode Island Avenue with the intersection of New York and West Virginia Avenues and passes beneath the railroad tracks by underpasses about at the foot of Eighteenth Street. As both Fourteenth and Eighteenth Streets extend all the way to the District Line, this route serves the Rhode Island Avenue, Brookland, Burroughs, and Michigan Park sections. The location chosen is ideal in that it provides naturally the necessary difference in grade between the railroad tracks and existing streets to which the crossing must connect, thus eliminating the possibility of flooding the underpass in severe storms. By connecting at the intersection of New York and West Virginia Avenues, maximum opportunities are afforded for traffic using the crossing to select routes either into or out of the city. The westerly or overhead crossing connects the intersection of Brentwood Road and T Street with the extension of Mount Olivet Road NE., and has been chosen to serve not only cross-town but also radial traffic. Furthermore, it permits, and the bill provides for, the crossing of New York Avenue by an overhead bridge where the topography is naturally suited to such construction. The building of a ramp or ramps down to New York Avenue so as to expedite traffic movement will reduce the hazard or interference with through movement of traffic on New York Avenue. This grade separation feature is an additional provision not contemplated in the 1903 act. The bill is so worded as to permit of some flexibility in the detail location of these crossings, which are to be finally determined in accordance with the highway plan of the District after public hearing before the Board of Commissioners. This bill has the approval of the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, and the National Capital Park and Planning Commission, as per the following letters: NATIONAL CAPITAL PARK AND PLANNING COMMISSION, Hon. MARY T. NORTON, House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. MY DEAR MRS. NORTON: I am requesting you on behalf of the National Capital Park and Planning Commission to introduce the attached bill entitled "A bill to amend an act to provide for a union railroad station in the District of Columbia, and for other purposes. The Terminal Act as approved February 28, 1903, consolidated the various depots and other terminal facilities into one union station with its consolidated terminal properties. Section 5 of the act closed most of the streets running northeast from the terminal station, and provided three viaduct bridge crossings in their stead east of Florida Avenue. Recent studies of the highway systems of the District indicate that the crossings as originally planned do not fit into the comprehensive highway scheme which has been developed, and as a result two crossings are now proposed in locations different than those called for in the act. The change from 3 crossings to 2 is being recommended only after the National Capital Park and Planning Commission and the District Commissioners have studied this problem for several years, and have employed additional expert advice for the study. In order to make this bill as simple and yet as exact and informing as possible, the bill repeats that part of the language of section 5 locating these crossings, and then amends and reenacts this wording showing the location of the proposed substitute crossings. The Commission at its last meeting voted this as meritorious legislation and recommends its passage. Respectfully yours, FREDERIC A. DELANO, Chairman. COMMISSIONERS OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, Hon. MARY T. NORTON, EXECUTIVE OFFICE, Washington, April 23, 1935. Chairman House Committee on the District of Columbia, House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. MY DEAR MRS. NORTON: The Commissioners of the District of Columbia have the honor to submit the following report on H. R. 7447, Seventy-fourth Congress, first session, entitled "A bill to amend an act to provide for a union railroad station in the District of Columbia, and for other purposes", which you referred to them for report. This bill was introduced at the request of the National Capital Park and Planning Commission and the reasons for and purposes of the bill are fully and correctly stated in the letter of transmittal to you from that Commission. The Commissioners, however, believe that the terminal company should pay the cost of the approaches to the viaduct bridge to the southerly line of New York Avenue instead of to the northerly line as provided in the bill. The Commissioners further believe that the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Co. and the Philadelphia, Baltimore & Washington Railroad Co. should pay the cost of so much of the approaches to the subway or underpass provided for in said bill as lie within the limits of the said railroad companies' properties, including the cost of roadway and sidewalk paving. The Commissioners therefore recommend that the bill be amended in the following particulars: Page 2, line 22, to page 3, line 4. Strike out the words "The terminal company shall pay the entire cost and expense of the bridge structure, including the necessary retaining walls in connection therewith, north of the southerly line of New York Avenue, and, in addition thereto, so much of the approaches to said viaduct bridge as lie between the southerly line of Brentwood Road and the northerly line of New York Avenue Northeast as now publicly owned;" and insert in lieu thereof the following: "The terminal company shall pay the entire cost and expense of the bridge structure, including the necessary retaining walls and approaches in connection therewith, between the southerly line of New York Avenue as now publicly owned, and the southerly line of Brentwood Road as now publicly owned;" Page 4, line 5. Strike out "exclusive of all roadway and sidewalk paving,".) Page 4, lines 9 and 10. Strike out "exclusive of all roadway and sidewalk paving;" and change the comma after the word "properties," page 4, line 9, to a semicolon. The Commissioners recommend favorable action on the bill with the amendments suggested. Respectfully, M. C. HAZEN, President Board of Commissioners, District of Columbia. O |