Evening Star Newspaper, February 12, 1928, Page 66

¢ tied, In the Motor World BY G. ADAMS HOWARD. Wwilllam H. Harland, and assistant, M. O. El- dridge, is wondering today just what has become of the new traf- fic suggestions that were made to the District Commissioners last September. While these regula- tions that were proposed carry no HE Traffic Bureau, which I comprises the director, the radical changes, it is the belief of | the bureau that they will in no small way facilitate the smooth handling of vehicles in the Na- tional Capital. One of these pro- posals provides for the same meth- od of making a left turn on aa intersection cont liceman as NOW in VORUE at Cross- ings guided by traflic lights. Th change. it is opinionated. would with gnany _“no left especially on F and G stree! Many complaints have been re- ceived at the Traflic gard to so ma signs It has becn pointed out that a sien of this nature calls for much delay in the flow of downtown | traffic at G street and Pennsyl- vania avenue. Many motorists state that the designation at that place is unnecessary and ac- complishes no good. because the driver wishing to make a left turn at that point merely drives down a few feet below the inter- section and then legally makes his left swing. At this point. be- cause of the parked cars, he is forced to drive over to the rigt curb before making his turn. Th necessarily causes a wider tur and cuts off more machines than | if he were allowed to make the turn at the intersection from the center of the street, which would permit vehicles to continue to his right. Cause Congestion. It certainly seems that left turns. when prohibited, cause more traffic congestion, both as to un- decidedness of many of the motor- ts and longer use of the high- ways in getting to destinations. Of course, at many places it is necessary, due to the physicai make-up of the traffic lanes. Ac- cording to Mr. Harland, the city ! of Springfield, Ohio, has done away with all left-hand turns. This measure appears to be need- lessly drastic, and the motoring public of Washington will wel- come any feasible plan that will ‘ do away with the left-hand turns . now banned. Another suggestion made to the | Commissioners is the doing away . with the red-yellow fire signals row in use on the signal lights. ; Tt is the director’s belief that the sirens and bells are sufficient i warnineg and that the flickering ¢ of the lights ties up traffic on so ; 2 needed on one. Other recommendations, in- ! cluding proposals for pedestrian . eontrol have been submitted. At i present the bureau's hands are i under provisions of law. Whether the District heads ap- prove or mot, it is fitting that 2 opinion be rendered. and at ce It is known that the Dis- t-ict officials have many affairs ‘o olled by a po-| 1in re- | | be br t throu he legal | ‘ many thoroughfares when it is| > et g handle and are at the present | time busily occupied. But there is nothing more vital to the af- | fairs of the city than systematiz- ing traffic matters, which affect ‘\ motorists and pedestrians alike. i Other Duties. | Besides waiting for the Gibson | subcommittee to act on other | amendments to the traffic act of Congress, the Traffic Bureau is | receiving bids this week for adci- tional traffic light signals. The {plans have been drawn and one { bid has been made already. Addi- | tion to the existing lights is re- garded by the burcau as of imme- diate necessity. Statistics have | ! shown that despite the rushing| by on the yellow signals, acci- dents have greatly decrcased on all streets controlled by the lights. The bureau is watching the fa- talities_even more closely this vear. During the 1L that have occurred since January 1, it is| found that only two have been caused by the negligence of the THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C. DOWN THE ROAD—A Short-Circuted Horn and the Owner Away. motorists. This convincing proof in the estimation of the of- | ficials of the bureau that the ma- ‘ jority of the cases are caused by | negleet of the pedestrian. Of | these cases the darting out intn | the street between parked cars is the contributing factor. Atten- | tion this year is calied to the per- | centage of taxicab drivers figur- | ing in daily mishaps. The bureau | is keeping careful record of tnese cases and is preparing to take the | matter up with the owners of the | | respective companies. A plan is| being devised for the director to | drive in a closed car with mem- | bers of the police force to check up on careless and reckless driv- ing. This campaign will not bcq‘ confined to any one set of drivers | or to any part of the city. | It was brought to the attention | of the Traffic Bureau that the'l | taxis are being parked doublie- | breasted at the stand to the west | | of Dupont Circle. Three arrests | followed, but according to motor- | ists daily passing that point the | | violation of the law has not | abated. ° | Besides belng occupied with the | question of parking on Thirteenth | street between F and I streets, | which is still being debated, the Traffic Bureau. not to seem idle | with all of the above program | under way. is paving particular | attention to the framing of an automobile title law for the Dis- | trict of Columbia. This law is being modeled along the lines of | similar laws existing in 27 States which includes the rather well worked out title system of Mary- | land. A law of this sort is much needed in Washington and shoul | channels immediately. Why the city has been so long without a | measure of protection against | thefts is bevond human know!- edge, unless it is just another one of those laxes forced upon a vote- less community. It is seen, therefore, that the {bureau has many problems to |work out and is tackling the (Continued on Seventh Page.) ! pedes, minister of public works. 5/ ) A 7 /) 0 ¥ (/ 4| U7 = D>, 33 = = FEBRUARY 12, 1928 —-PART 4. —BY BECK BY REX COLLIER. Virginia has begun her long-promised improvement of her prlnlclppnl ap- proaches to the bridges connecting her with the National Capital. The first step in an ambitious pro- gram mapped out. by Henry G. Shirley, chairman of the State Highway Com- mission, already is being taken. It 13 the creation of a “greater” Lee High- way through Cherrydale to the Key Bridge. Motorists who have been forced to drive their cars over this narrow, tor- past 10 days have been privileged to ance of the program. Work actually is under way at last. Gangs of surveyors and engineers, armed with tape and transit, havs launched the preliminary surveys and gathered the necessary data which ar> to serve as a basis for consummation of final plans. | A new and more adequate railroad | viaduct has been erected to support the tuous stretch of highway during the! glimpse the initial activities in further- | VIRGINIA STARTS TO IMPROVE APPROACHES TO BRIDGES HERE State Launches Long-Promised Work With Ambitious Program for Greater = Hishway Through Cherrydale. -, . the right-of-way is no easy one. Prob- lems of this sort are particul#rly ag- gravating at two points—Park Lane h‘&l where houses line both sides of the road and leave but little room for road- widening processes; and Cherrydale, where the highway at present is jam- med between a section of street rail- way tracks and a closely-bullt-up busi- ness row. “The Cherrydale problem is the worat of the two. Moving the railway tracks over 5o as to give us more room for the highway would entall a large outlay of money. Even then we would come face to face with another barrier—the brick bank building and the residences at the east end of the town, on.the north side of the road. May Split Highway. | “We may have to go around these obstacles by splitting the highway through Cherrydale, 50 that wes traffic will cross over the tracks cast of the bank and continue on the north side of the tracks until another tracks of the Old Dominion Railwav, just west of Rosslyn, tending to elimi- nate the “I le neck” that previously | existed at t! point. Bids Will Be Sought. Steps have been taken to acquire ad- ditional strips of land on each side of | the highwav. with a view to greatly | broadening the present right of way. Preparations are being made for re- questing bids for the entire profect And, most assuring of all. more than cost of the commendable undertaking Chairman Shirley and his engineers. The project is literally teeming with difficulties Before these difficulties are explained it would be well to outline just what the highway commission's project for e the Lee Highway contemplates. Shirley AUTO HEAD ATTENDS CUBAN HIGHWAY MEET | i George F. Bauer Praises Island's| Rapid Progress in Road | Building. needs to add to its capital [facilities, | A. J. Brosseau, vice president of the George F. Bauer, National Automobile Chamber of Com-| merce, sailed on the S. S. Toloa yester- day to attend the second Cuban High- way Congress, which s to be held in Ha;rnnind I-‘e‘brunry gs ;/lndhmd i esident Gerardo Machado of Cuba . is honorary president of the congress, resentatives in Washington. which is to be held under the joint aus- | The Government and | pices of the Automobile Club of Cuba | States are at present working on a! and the Cuban Automobile Dealers’ As- | specified Federal aid system which sociation. The chairman of the con- | take several years to complete. Mean- gress is Senor Carlos Miguel de Ces-| While, public support of this plan and | the need for additional projects hul “Cuba’s rapid progress in highway grown to such a mlnt that continued | growth gives promise of a strong cce- | Federal aid will important for a/ nomic future for that country,” said number of years. the speaker indicated Mr. Bauer before he sailed. “The 721-| Federal ald expenditure amounts to mile central highway is now beinz only 8% of the annual highway in-| pushed toward completion at maximum | vestment of the Nation, but its ad- | speed. Originally the project was sched- | vantage li~s in the correlation of the ed to be done within 10 years, but as | various State activities and in the a result of the first congress. held in|economics which thereby result, Mr. March, 1926, the time was advanced to Brosseau held. four years.” “With more than 23,000,000 vehicles — ‘!nogse today, nld]dl(lnnnl mllllm;x; being 2 produced annually, and considering the Motor Licenses $800,555,812. {10t “Use of ‘the vehicles on the Special motor vehicle taxes in 1027 roads as facilities increase, it is vital, amounted to $600,555,812. This figure | we believe, to maintain the present does not include general property taxes, |scale of improvement,” the speaker but onli’ the license fees and similar | said. special levies. | “For the future {ance of the program of Federal ald for | | highways in a presentation before the | Of cars from *3,000 1 510,000 this supreme six has the most perfect balance of features THE STEARNS-KNIGHT SEDAN AT $3450 rEHE man who § car picks his car pore than 83000 for a motor h utmost care. Of cars priced above 83000 the Stearns-Knight Six offers today’s greatest six-cylinder llllllll -car value. The Stearns- Knight follows close! average of main f y the ures In addition to the advantages shown in the chart, Stearns-Knight offers the fumous Knight Sleeve-Valve Motor in combination with a Worm Drive Rear Axle— the one supremely quiet power-transmission unit. Ma terful coachwork of 28 year: experience. New mot we must look to ! | |Auto Chamber Official Makes Appea]fl 'f;A'N FOR COLOMBIA For Continuance of Federal Road Aid! Stating that cvery growing business grade separations. by-passing, building ' of parallel roads, and similar measu: keep the system abreast of traffic demands. These measures are necessary representing the | Natfonal Automobile Chamber of Com- |even now in some States at the s merce, spoke last week for a continu- time that initial improvement of the beginning in Federal system is only other plac “The Federal aid roads, reaching as roads committee of the House of Rep- | tney do evory city and tosn of 5000 | population or more, respective | part of the Natlon's population on the main line of transportation, vhether 11 | rail facilities are available or not.” put 3,530,000 Machines Made. A total of 2,530,000 cars and trucks were manufactured in 1927, having an 2,556,750.~ 000, according to figures complled by the National Automobile Chamber of The average retail price during the year of passenger cars was aggregate wholesale value 81 Commerce. nd of trucks $1,053. the greater | detailed his plan to The Star yester- dav as follows: ‘We intend. fefly. to transform the SEEN THROUGH MOTOQRS hazardous. curving stretch of road be- tween Cherrydale and Rosslyn into a A broad. safe highway. as free from dan- for gerous bends as possible. and with suffi- clent width to provide for three lanes of | vehicular traffic. | ,Our aim has been to obtain a right- of-way at least 80 feet wide, on which will be constructed a paved roadwayv more than 30 feet wide, from shoulder to shoulder. Will Abolish Hazards. “We want to straighten out the curves and thus eliminate the ‘blind spots’ and other potential danger points in the present road, and we want to provide a highway that will permit of the casy passage of three cars abreast and tend to reduce the great congestion that has developed on the Lee Highway within the past few years. “We are appropriating more than $90.000 for this job. which should en- able us to reconstruct the road to a ment is a comprehensive program of point beyond Cherrydale.” raflroad and automobile road construc- As for the difficulties before the com- tion, designed to meet the future needs® mission, let Mr. Shirley tell about them of the entire Republic, rather than in his own words: to satisfy local demands of particular “The task of securing additione! 1solated ions.” ps of land with h to broaden | Government Realizes Need Roads and Is Pushing Con- struction, Says Banker. Continued prosperity for Colombia, South America, through the develop. ment of motor transportation, is pre- dicted by H. G. Brock, New York bank official. who has recently returned from a visit to that country. “The present government is thor- oughly alive,” he indicates. “to the necessity of improving the transporta- tion facilities of the republic, and the | traveler who re-visits Colombia today cannot fail to appreciate the advances that have taken place within the last five years—even within the last year “What is needed most at the mo- ame 1045 3-DOOR SEDAN Let Local Owners Tell You ! Or passing Some of them Ask them their candid opinions. Learn what they think of the car. Special Sport Equipment Available on all body A ( Your own friends. acquaintances. own the All-Amecrican Six. success. * answer. * todo. Ask them about the big,smooth engine with its GMR cylinder * * $90.000 has been set aside to meet the | That it is a real undertaking already | has impressed itself on the minds of * Of course we know what they'll What they'll advise you nd we're eager to have you get the [truth in a manner you won't forget. cross-over is reached and the roads | merge again. | _“The alternative to this plan is to | move the bank building, the houses Tnd railway tracks—a costly proposi- ‘We will not take any final decision | on these problems until our engineering surveys, now under way. are completed When the recommendations of our engi- neers are in hand. we will be in & po- sition to reach a final conelusion.” Shirley’s predicament is no mean one with which to reckon. He has a certain amount of money to spend and his de- sire is to make it go as far as possible. If he uses too much of the money for condemnation purposes in connection with the task of securing a more ade- quate right of way. the funds for road construction, proper, will be depleted. Motorists who travel the Lee High- way will recognize i Lane and Cherrydale p ed by the Virginia highway commissioner. Park Lane Hill Dangerous. ‘The Park Lan~ Hill is one of the most. dangerous in nearby Virginia. Begin- ning at the raiiroad viaduct at Rosslyn. ‘n what has b2en named quite appro- priately “Dead Man's Hollow.” the high- way squirms its the village of Aurora Heights. Lane, a subdivision located about half way up this dangerous incliine, has been built up close to th~ road on both sides of the rigt of way. seriously hampering any road-widening project. In slippery weathar the curve in the road opposite the camp-meeting grounds below Park Lane is a distinct men- ace to all traffic descencing the hill. For some mysterious reason the road 2t s curve is banked in exactly the wrong way. so that when it is covered with ice nothing but chains. a crawling mait. careful steering and. most ‘of all Providence combine to prevent automo- biles from skidding right into a ravine that skirts the highway. Countiess minor accidents have oc- curred at this curve. and citizens of the community regard it only as a miracie that great loss of life has not marked the spot. There is a guard rail of rather fral e ction _along a portion of (Continut Seventh Pags.) think the cardeservesits thrilling * types. 6 wire wheels with tirea i front f tire well clal tire locks locking rings .. Japaible trunk rack 100 extraon open Comparison of Six-Cylinder Cars in $3000 to $10,000 Classes e e e AVERAGE “:},m"‘, 137 insbas T | K2 beauty and harmoniously blended color. The Stear Knight Six is a car for the fastidious. Itholdsdistinction in owmership and unique- ness in performance. ’I'ha ideal car above $3000. offered by all six-cylinder cars in this quality ni is the one car for wh would expect 1o pay at least £35000~—yet it is much lower priced. head. About the riding comfort and handling case resulting from All-Amecrican engineering com- bined with the mastery of Fisher Body construction and design. * PRICES Landea Coupe.. 1045 Sport Readorer 1078 eDvee Setan... *1143 Cadetater .......*1158 Landen Sedan....*1265 Newe Series Pontiac Siv, $745 to $875. A‘l:rdm at factory. Delivered prices include minimum handling charges. Fasy to pay on the liberel General Motors Time Pay ment Plan. 136 inches 2% Carefully study the aver. ages of significant facts pre. sented in the chart, {’ml immediately see that Stearns- Knight follows very closely o the trend in fine cars— except in price—which is sur- prisingly low. 5.6 7 4 4 - 312 uq. inches ) o I, * sk them if they're glad they bought it. Whether or not they L. P. STEUART, Inc. Service— 1444 P Street N.W. ASSOCIATED DEALERS PADGETT - JOYCE MOTOR CO. SHERIFF MOTOR CO. 712 E Street 8K 621 K Street NW. 0 RICHAKDS HEMINGTON MOTOR €O, GINGELL MOTOR (0 Warrenton, Va Bernn, M4 FENCE MOTOR 0. « TEUPLS MOTE Munanaas, V. Alevandria, Va, To drive und examine the Stearns-Knight Six is to be convineed of its unusual value. You owe yourself a demonstration today. At- of payment be urranged, if desired. 337 aq. Inches FEngine All others—~ P -val Weight ‘oppet-valves Price - bracede Note how closely the Stearns-Knight Six compares in the important and significant features with the average of all fime-quality cars,” Then note that Stearns-Knight i than §2000 lower in price than the average. Uptown Salesroom A3 14th Street Northwest Downtown Salesroom 14th and Rhode Island Ave. N.W, more R R KING MOTOR OO, M4 N Street NE M wvE VOAT MOTOR 0 Damaseus. M Falls Chured. Yo CENTRAL GARAGRD 1a Pate N& J. L. JERMAN 2021 M Street N.W. 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