I thought you might like to have the attached copy for your files. I trust you will call on me or Yates Cook if we can be of help to you in this connection. Sincerely, [Enclosure] RESOLUTION STEPHEN AILES, President. Resolved that the Federal City Council, after consideration of the need to serve the transportation requirements of the 85,000 employees expected in the Independence Avenue area by 1972, and with cognizance of the projected 16 percent ridership increase contemplated as a direct result of service to this area, hereby affirms its support of the proposed modification of the basic rail rapid transit system and urges early and favorable action by Congress on the proposal. Adopted February 17, 1967, Washington Board of Trustees, Federal City Council. Mr. WALTER J. MCCARTER, D.C. TRANSIT SYSTEM, INC., Administrator, National Capital Transportation Agency, DEAR WALTER, It is indeed a pleasure to reply to your request for the views of D.C. Transit on the proposed 1967 revision of the Transit Development Program. As you suggested, we treated your request as a priority matter. We consider the proposals to be of major importance, and timely." D.C. Transit has been happy to cooperate unremittingly with you and your staff and consultants in a continuing evaluation of the transit system in terms of its ability to distribute passengers where they want to go throughout our operating area. For many years D.C. Transit has been dedicated to giving the community the most advanced transportation possible. From horse cars through cable cars and electric street railways, to today's latest air-conditioned motor bus and such special vehicles as the famous minibus and the mall train, D.C. Transit and its predecessors have continually pioneered in providing the best transportation possible in the frame of existing conditions and needs in the National Capital Region for over 100 years. The expertise and knowledge thus accumulated and tested has been gladly and unstintingly placed at your disposal by D.C. Transit in 100% cooperation with your efforts, which we support. In the same spirit we submit these observations on the Recommended Modifications of the System of Rail Rapid Transit Lines and Related Facilities Authorized in the National Capital Transportation Act of 1965. Modification No. 1 proposes early service to the Southwest Redevelopment Employment Area because of revised employment projections. The suggested route alignment is the best possible in the interest of the Southwest Employment Area. This is not a new proposal, but merely a change of phase and a rescheduling of work. The route should be developed in coordination with the other development in the Southwest Employment Area. Modification No. 2 eliminates the Columbia Heights Route because the recent traffic study raises serious questions as to the justification for this route at this time. The Columbia Heights area and North-Central Washington can be well served by buses until development of the Shaw Urban Renewal Project justifies a rail rapid transit service. These two proposed modifications fragment the rapid transit system into two separate subway routes by eliminating the major route junctions. This eliminates for the present the restrictive influence of the common G Street section of the subway and makes possible the early addition of other suburban branch lines. There will be an immediate net increase of $41.5 million at current prices in the cost of presently planned subway construction in the District. Additional planning and construction will be necessary to complete a unified regional rapid transit system. The proposed 1967 modifications are rational interim steps in the accomplishment of this objective. D.C. Transit is glad of the privilege of being permitted to submit these comments which are hopefully intended to be helpful and cooperative. I am happy to take this opportunity to extend my warm personal regards. Very truly yours, O. ROY CHALK, President. WASHINGTON, VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND COACH CO., INC., Mr. WALTER J. MCCARTER, DEAR WALTER: It is indeed a pleasure to reply to your request for the views of the Washington, Virginia and Maryland Coach Company, Inc., on the proposed 1967 revision of the Transit Development Program. The two proposed modifications, in my opinion, are a needed improvement to the rail rapid transit system being planned. Modification No. 1 proposes early service to the Southwest Redevelopment Employment Area because of revised employment projections. The suggested route alignment is the best possible for the Southwest Employment Area. Modification No. 2 eliminates the Columbia Heights route since the recent traffic studies raise serious questions as to the justification for this route at this time. This area can be reasonably served by buses. The Washington, Virginia and Maryland Coach Co., Inc., is glad of the privilege of being permitted to submit these comments which are intended to be helpful and cooperative. Verv truly yours, Mr. WALTER J. MCCARTER, S. A. DESTEFANO, President. AMALGAMATED TRANSIT UNION, NATIONAL CAPITAL LOCAL DIVISION 689, Washington, D.C., May 19, 1967. Administrator, National Capital Transportation Agency, DEAR MR. MCCARTER: I have for comment a copy of your proposed recommended modifications of the Rail Rapid Transit Lines authorized in the National Capital Transportation Act of 1965. As I understand the proposal, the authorized route would be modified by the addition of southwest Washington service and by the deletion of the Columbia Heights spur. I understand also that if the approval of the Congress is given during the current session, the recommended modifications will occasion no delay in the construction of the basic system. Under these circumstances, this organization would have no objections to the proposal to modify. I have consulted with International Vice President Walter J. Bierwagen of our urion, and he has indicated that I may here express his concurrence in our view. We appreciate having been afforded an opportunity to comment. Sincerely yours, GEORGE W. APPERSON, President and Business Agent. GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION, Hon. WALTER J. MCCARTER, Administrator, National Capital Transportation Agency, DEAR MR. MCCARTER: At a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Federal Buildings in the National Capital Region which I called on December 20, 1966, to consider plans for housing Federal agencies in the Southwest Employment Area, the problem of transportation to the area was discussed at some length. The Committee favored the D Street alignment of the proposed modification to the authorized rail rapid transit system now under consideration by your agency, Accordingly, a motion was made that the Committee go on record as favoring the southernmost line development or extension of the transit system as a part of the total system at the earliest possible date. The motion was seconded, and the Committee adopted it unanimously. Sincerely yours, LAWSON B. KNOTT, Jr., Administrator. Mr. MCCARTER. I might add right here that eight local governing bodies responded favorably, one regulatory body, nine planning bodies, two transit companies including D.C. Transit, one union, the Amalgamated Transit Union. Mr. McCARTER. The modifications have been endorsed unanimously by the Board of Directors of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, the organization which will succeed NCTA after September 30, 1967. SOUTHWEST REQUIREMENTS I am also able to report strong support of the system modifications by two committees within the Executive Branch of the Government having clear interests and responsibilities on which the modifications bear significantly. One of these, "The Southwest Area Transportation Committee," consists of the Secretary of the Department of Transportation, the Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Administrator of the General Services Administration, and representatives of the Department of Defense, Department of the Treasury, the National Aeronautics and Space Agency, the Smithsonian Institution, and various official organizations having cognizance of planning, traffic movement, and related matters on behalf of the District of Columbia and the Federal Government. I think, Mr. Chairman, you have a letter from this Committee which I hope will be entered in the record. Mr. WHITENER. Yes. We will make that a part of the record. (The document follows:) Hon. BASIL L. WHITENER, GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION, Chairman, Subcommittee No. 4 of the House Committee of the District of Columbia, DEAR MR. WHITENER: The Department of Transportation, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the General Services Administration, all deeply involved in transportation programs, support H.R. 11395 to modify the authorized transit system by adding a subway line which would serve the Federal Triangle and the Southwest employment area. In addition to advising you of these agencies' support of this legislation to provide rapid transit services to the Southwest area, we want you to know that there exists a Southwest Area Transportation Committee representing all of the Federal agencies in the Southwest area that are concerned with the transportation needs of their personnel and visitors. In addition to the undersigned, other agencies seriously concerned with Southwest area transportation problems are the Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Treasury, and Health, Education and Welfare, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the Smithsonian. All of these agencies are on record unanimously approving the proposal for rapid transit service to the Southwest employment area as the only solution for satisfying the transportation needs to serve the existing employment population of 35,000 and the rapidly growing employment population which is estimated to reach 85,000 within a few years. Growth in this Southwest area is accelerating so rapidly that it is no longer possible to defer this step, as was originally contemplated. On the contrary, immediate action is required. The General Services Administration, responsible for housing the Federal employees in the area, the newly organized Department of Transportation, which is concentrating its headquarters in Southwest Washington, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which is scheduled to move into the new headquarters building by 1968, all strongly endorse this legislation to provide rapid transit service to the Southwest area. Otherwise, Federal employees will find commuting to the Southwest area increasingly difficult, resulting in employee dissatisfaction and a possible intolerable situation. Sincerely yours, (For Robert C. Weaver, Secretary Department of Housing and Urban Development). LAWSON B. KNOTT, Jr., General Services Administrator. Mr. MCCARTER. In the view of this committee, the present need for improved transportation will soon reach desperate proportions and the provision of rapid rail transit to the Southwest employment area is essential to the efficiency of their organizations and to the convenience and welfare of their employees. There is also a substantial and growing concentration of private employment in the area to be served by the proposed rail line. Worthy of special attention-and well known to you, I am sureis the fact that there are many, many visitors each year to the Smithsonian Institution and other buildings and monuments bordering the Mall. They are finding automotive traffic intolerable and parking impossible, or nearly so, in this area. All of these visitors to our Capital City will find this Southeast line to be of great assistance to them. The other committee, the "Advisory Committee on Federal Buildings in the National Capital Region," was created at the direction of the President early in 1966 and consists of the Administrator of GSA as Chairman; the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Administration); the Engineer Commissioner, Government of the District of Columbia; the Chairman, National Capital Planning Commission; the Chairman, Commission of Fine Arts; and the Administrator of NCTA. This Committee, charged with responsibility for developing and maintaining current and long-range plans for the provision of Federal office space in the National Capital region, and reporting its progress to the President, has noted the developing transportation problem in the Southwest. Unanimously, the Committee adopted a resolution. urging provision of rapid rail transit service to the Southwest area such as that under consideration today. This change as proposed here to serve the Southwest area is not entirely a new proposal. It has long been recognized that Washington's rail rapid transit system must ultimately include service to that area. In fact, such a line on a route alignment quite similar to our proposed Modification No. 1-was an integral part of the regional rapid rail transit system which NCTA proposed in its November, 1962, Report to the President entitled "Recommendations for Transportation in the National Capital Region." The Mass Transportation Survey Report and Plan published in 1959 by the National Capital Planning Commission and the National Capital Regional Planning Council also recommended rail rapid transit service to 12th Street and Independence Avenue, Southwest. When the component lines of the system authorized in 1965 were being selected from the larger system proposed in NCTA's 1962 Report to the President, a lower priority was assigned to the Southwest line. Employment projections then indicated a concentration of 46,000 persons by 1980; it is now expected that 85,000 persons will be employed in the Southwest by 1971. Traffic congestion, already severe in the area, will likely become unbearable. (See estimates shown on Exhibit D, p. 58.) Rather than being an innovation, Modification No. 1 might more aptly be described as a proposal to accelerate the provision of rail rapid transit service to the Southwest area as part of the basic system. The reasons for acceleration are compelling, indeed. In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, I would like to state that the revisions to the authorized system which I am recommending here and which would be authorized by H.R. 11395, would greatly enhance the basic rail rapid transit system by improving downtown distribution, by substantially increasing patronage, and by providing greater operating efficiency and better performance throughout. Enactment of the proposed bill would in effect substitute the revised system as shown here on Exhibit "B", for the system authorized by the 1965 Act as shown on Exhibit "A" (p. 24). That completes my formal statement, Mr. Chairman. Attached is transmittal to the Congress requesting this legislation, together with supporting documents. (The attachments follow:) DEAR MR. PRESIDENT (DEAR MR. SPEAKER): There is transmitted herewith, for referral to the appropriate committee, a draft of legislation "To amend the National Capital Transportation Act of 1965." The National Capital Transportation Act of 1965 authorized the National Capital Transportation Agency to provide for the establishment of the system of rail rapid transit lines and related facilities described in the Agency's Report entitled "Rail Rapid Transit for the Nation's Capital, January 1965." The legislation transmitted herewith would modify the physical system described in the Agency's 1965 Report by adding a line through the Southwest section of the District of Columbia and by deleting a line into the North Central section of the District of Columbia. The attached Report entitled "Revised Transit Development Program for the Nation's Capital, 1967" explains and justifies the recommended modifications. The modification would authorize a subway line to serve the burgeoning public and private building complex now developing south of the Mall in Southwest Washington and the Federal Triangle and would also eliminate the presently authorized Columbia Heights Route. The Agency's further study indicates this latter line would be an uneconomic element of the system and that more feasible and economically viable alternatives to serving the affected areas are possible and desirable. These alternatives involving a line in the 7th-14th Street area are now under consideration as part of the planning for the regional system being undertaken by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. Adding the Southwest line and deleting Columbia Heights would improve the financial viability of the system, carry over 22 million additional riders annually, serve a new and predominantly Federal employment complex of 85,000 workers, alleviate traffic congestion in the downtown area, and improve train capacity and operating efficiency of the basic system by eliminating certain complex route junctions. |