VEHICULAR TUNNEL UNDER U.S. CAPITOL GROUNDS FRIDAY, JUNE 19, 1964 U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON PUBLIC ROADS OF THE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC WORKS, The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:10 a.m., in room 4200, New Senate Office Building, Senator Jennings W. Randolph presiding. Present: Senators Randolph, Moss, Metcalf, Fong, and Cooper. Staff members present: Richard E. Gerrish, assistant chief clerk, and Richard B. Royce, professional staff. Senator. RANDOLPH. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. The Committee on Public Works resumes its hearing on H.R. 10392, the companion bill to S. 2692. I will place a copy of H.R. 10392 in the record at this place. S. 2692 is the bill introduced by Senator McNamara. It is identical to H.R. 10392 and, hence, will not be printed. (H.R. 10392 is as follows:) [H.R. 10392, 88th Cong., 2d sess.] AN ACT Authorizing the Commissioners of the District of Columbia to locate a portion of a vehicular tunnel under parts of the United States Capitol Grounds and the United States Botanic Garden grounds, and for other purposes Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Commissioners of the District of Columbia are authorized and directed, in constructing, maintaining, and operating a vehicular tunnel in the city of Washington, District of Columbia, extending from the vicinity of Second and C Streets Southwest, to the vicinity of Third and Constitution Avenue Northwest, as a part of the Innerloop Freeway System, to locate a portion of such tunnel under square W-576, which is a part of the United States Botanic Garden grounds, and reservation 12, which is a part of the United States Capitol Grounds. SEC. 2. Subject to the approval of the Architect of the Capitol and to such conditions as he may prescribe, the Commissioners of the District of Columbia are authorized to make such use of square W-576 and reservations 12 and 6B as may be necessary for the construction of the tunnel, including borings and other preliminary work and storing of materials, and the reconstruction of that section of the Tiber Creek sewer located under square W-576 and reservation 6B. SEC. 3. Except as provided in section 6, nothing in this Act shall be construed to grant to the Commissioners of the District of Columbia any right, title, or interest in or to any real property of the United States, and reservation 12 shall in its entirety continue to be a part of the United States Capitol Grounds, and square W-576 shall in its entirety continue to be a part of the United States Botanic Garden grounds. The Commissioners shall have jurisdiction and control of, and sole responsibility for the operation and maintenance of, those portions of the tunnel beneath square W-576 and reservation 12. SEC. 4. All areas of square W-576 and reservations 12 and 6B disturbed by reason of operations under this Act shall, except as otherwise provided in this Act, be restored to their original condition to the satisfaction of the Architect of the Capitol. SEC. 5. Except as provided in section 6, the United States shall not incur any expense or liability whatsoever under or by reason of this Act, or be liable under any claim of any nature or kind that may arise from the construction, or the operation or maintenance, of that portion of the tunnel authorized by this Act. SEC. 6. The Architect of the Capitol is authorized to convey to the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, for purposes of constructing the Innerloop Freeway System, all, or so much as he determines necessary, of the right, title, and interest of the United States in and to reservations 6B, 6C, 6D, 6E, 6F, and 286 in the District of Columbia. Any real property conveyed under this section shall thereafter be under the sole jurisdiction and control of the Commissioners of the District of Columbia. SEC. 7. Notwithstanding the joint resolution entitled "Joint resolution providing for the construction and maintenance of a National Gallery of Art", approved March 24, 1937 (50 Stat. 51; 20 U.S.C. 71), the Commissioners of the District of Columbia are authorized to use the east 65 feet of the area bounded by Fouth Street, Pennsylvania Avenue, Third Street, and North Mall Drive Northwest, in the District of Columbia for the construction and maintenance of a vehicular tunnel, on condition that after such construction is completed (1) the surface thereof is maintained at its original grade, (2) no portion of the tunnel, including ventilating equipment and utilities, is nearer the surface than eight feet, and (3) the surface ingress and egress to such property is not limited. Senator RANDOLPH. On May 18 and 19 the Subcommittee on Public Roads received testimony on this measure from Federal Highway Administrator Rex M. Whitton and Engineer Commissioner for the District of Columbia, Brig. Gen. Charles M. Duke. We welcome both of these gentlemen again this morning, as we welcome our other witnesses, Mrs. James Rowe, and Mr. William Walton. Since the hearings of the subcommittee in May, the House of Representatives passed this bill on June 3. The Senate Subcommittee on Public Roads reported it to the full committee with the reservation that the action on this measure would not be taken until the committee has today's hearing testimony studied and evaluated. This hearing is called as a result of questions which have been raised by some committee members regarding the proposed tunnel under the Mall, and the so-called center leg of the inner loop. Now we cannot, of course, entirely separate our consideration of the pending bill from the center leg itself. However, I would point out that this committee has neither the responsibility nor the authority for determining the alinement of projects in the Interstate System in the District of Columbia. Our authority has the same limitations with regard to the District of Columbia as it has with the State of Kentucky or with the State of Montana or the State of West Virginia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. We have requested testimony from those agencies which have such authority, and of course we have reports from the responsible and respective officers of the Congress who are charged with protecting the integrity of the Capitol Grounds itself. We are primarily concerned with congressional authorization of the District of Columbia Department of Highways and Traffic to trespass on Federal property. I would hope that our discussion will be concentrated on that aspect, and not go astray into a consideration of the concept or possible alinement of the inner loop. With that thought in mind I welcome our first witness, the Federal Highway Administrator, Rex M. Whitton. Mr. Whitton, before you begin your testimony, if Senator Metcalf or Senator Cooper desires to make an opening statement, the Chair would be very pleased to entertain that. Senator METCALF. Mr. Chairman, I think that the chairman has very clearly set forth the problems that some of the members of this committee have. We are concerned about an invasion of not only the Capitol Grounds but other recreational areas over which this committee has responsibility, and I acquiesced in bringing this forward, knowing the importance that you put on this project at the last meeting. I hope that we can develop a record that would satisfy the members of the committee, and I think the chairman has very well stated the position of some of us on this side as members of the committee. While I don't quite agree with the chairman that alinement is completely out of the purview of this committee, because after all the alinement does take into consideration where and under what circumstances we are going through some of the Capitol Grounds, which is our responsibility, and if we are in a position of having a freeway come up one side of the Mall and the other side of the Mall, we are going to be in an unenviable position of saying that freeway will be useless or else we are going to have to acquiesce in whatever your program is. So I felt that this was the time to discuss this and, within the boundaries that the chairman has laid down, I hope that we will have a free discussion after you have presented your testimony. Senator RANDOLPH. Senator Cooper? STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN SHERMAN COOPER, A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF KENTUCKY Senator COOPER. Yes; Mr. Chairman. I might say of course that I appreciate very much the courtesy of the chairman in arranging this hearing and summoning the witnesses which I and others have suggested. I know very well that this committee has no authority to determine the location or alinement of a public road in the Interstate System, the Federal-State system. I think we are in agreement on that. What I do object to, however, is for this committee to be used to determine the alinement, and I think that is what is happening. I knew nothing about this project until the last hearing, and then this thought came to me during the hearings and subsequent studies I have made of this project. I don't want to get into this question of the outer loop because as you say that is beyond our jurisdiction, but there is a center leg which moves from one side of the loop to the other, and it is proposed that a portion of that center leg be a tunnel under the Capitol Grounds. From the investigation that I have made I am informed that a number of agencies must give approval before the alinement and the design of the center leg can be fixed and determined. We will find out if all of these agencies have given their approval. As I understand it there is still some controversy and conflict over the alinement, the design, and the cost of the center leg. If that is correct, then I believe that in coming here and asking for the Congress, whether it is our committee or not, to give approval for a section of the center leg does in effect fix the alinement of the inner leg. And with that approval those who favor the center leg and favor a certain alinement could, of course, go to the other agencies involved and say that Congress has given this approval. Our decision would have its influence on the other agencies. In my own judgment I think it would be better for the District Highway Department and the Commissioners to complete their plans, and to secure approval from these agencies, and then to seek congressional approval of this final part. It seems to me the Highway Department is putting the cart before the horse. One other point. I think we are interested in seeing to it that the design of this segment of the center leg is one which does not affect the beauty or the utility of the Capitol Grounds. Testimony was taken at a prior hearing to the effect that there would be a tunnel and that therefore it would not affect the beauty or utility of the Capitol Grounds. I think we have some obligation to see that his proposed center leg, its location, design, and so forth, affect the beauty of this city. We have no models before us to show the alinement or the design of the inner leg at the points where it enters and leaves the tunnel. As I understand it, it will be about 200 or 250 or 300 feet wide in a depressed channel of some kind entering and leaving immediately at the edges of the Capitol Ground. I am sure there would be a great deal of noise and fumes, and I just don't think these matters have been determined, and I think if there is to be a complete design we should have all these facts before we approve what I would call a pig in a poke. I wanted to make my position clear before we proceed with the hearing, and I am inserting in the record of this hearing a statement covering my views. (The prepared statement of Senator Cooper follows:) STATEMENT BY SENATOR JOHN SHERMAN COOPER The Subcommittee on Public Roads held a hearing on S. 2692 on May 20At that meeting the subcommittee heard testimony from Brig. Gen. Charles MDuke, District of Columbia Engineer Commissioner, and Mr. T. F. Airis, Director, District of Columbia Department of Highways and Traffic. Statements on behalf of the Architect of the Capitol, the U.S. Botanic Garden, and the National Gallery of Art were received and made part of the record. The Commissioners of the District of Columbia seek this committee's authorization to locate a portion of a vehicular tunnel under parts of the Capitol Grounds and the U.S. Botanic Garden grounds. The proposed tunnel will constitute a segment of the center leg freeway-a 1.8-mile highway linking the Southwest freeway to the inner loop freeway on the north. Since the tunnel segment represents more than 25 percent of the entire center leg, I believe that this committee has a duty to scrutinize the plans of the Board of Commissioners for the construction of the connecting segment. I am informed that the National Capital Transportation Agency, the National Capital Planning Commission, and the District Commissioners, supported by various civic organizations, have agreed on the need of a north-south freeway and have endorsed the general concept of a center leg freeway as proposed by the District Highway Department. I am not informed as to what decisions have been made and approvals obtained concerning the exact route and type of construction. While there appears to be agreement as to the general direction the freeway should take, detailed planning as to route and construction have provoked controversies. The proposal for an eight-lane highway to run through the center of the city requires the acquisition of costly rights-of-way, displaces residential properties, commercial properties, office buildings and churches, and eliminates a majority of the east-west cross streets. Without adequate planning, the proposed thoroughfare may create more commuuity problems than the transportation problem it is designed to solve. I am not an advocate of any particular route or type of freeway. My concern is that detailed plans be made and final decisions reached by all the agencies charged with a responsibility in this matter. I am not impressed by prior testimony that the entire project has been delayed pending a search for a satisfactory scheme for crossing the Capitol Grounds or that various officials have given their initial approval to preliminary plans of the District Highway Department for a route. This is putting the cart before the horse. For I fail to understand why the Commissioners cannot come before the subcommittee with a completed plan approved by all the agencies concerned. After all, the connecting segment is scheduled to extend only a mile and a quarter beyond the proposed tunnel segment, and it should not be too difficult to reach agreement on this small extension. Unless such a plan is presented, I feel the request to this subcommittee for the authorization to tunnel under the Capitol Grounds is not only premature, but may serve to prejudge and to foreclose the advice and counsel of other agencies and officials charged with a responsibility in these matters. Senator RANDOLPH. Thank you, Senator Cooper and Senator Metcalf. Mr. Whitton, will you now proceed please and bring those associates with you whom you desire? STATEMENT OF HON. REX M. WHITTON, FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATOR, BUREAU OF PUBLIC ROADS; ACCOMPANIED BY JOSEPH BARNETT, DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF ENGINEERING, BUREAU OF PUBLIC ROADS Mr. WHITTON. Mr. Chairman, and members of the committee, I would like to have Mr. Joseph Barnett sit with me this morning. He is Deputy Director of Engineering of the Bureau of Public Roads, and can answer questions in detail about this that I cannot answer. We are happy to have the opportunity of appearing before you again to discuss H.R. 10392, which is a bill to authorize the District of Columbia to locate a portion of a vehicular tunnel under parts of the U.S. Capitol Grounds and the U.S. Botanic Garden grounds. This proposed tunnel would be part of the center leg of the inner loop freeway in the District of Columbia, an important segment of the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways as proposed by the District of Columbia Highway Department. The route concerned is Interstate 95, the main north-south route on the east coast of the United States. The enactment of H.R. 10392 is necessary because a portion of the center leg is to be constructed in a vehicular tunnel under the westernmost projection of the U.S. Capitol Grounds and the U.S. Botanic Garden grounds. While this tunnel would in no way disturb the appearance of these grounds, except during the period of construction, statutory permission is needed to cross these areas since they are under the jurisdiction of the Architect of the Capitol. It is my understanding that the Architect of the Capitol is agreeable to the location and general concept as proposed by the District of Columbia Highway Department. The inner loop, as planned by the Highway Department of the District of Columbia, is vital to the relief of congestion in the central area of the city. After extensive studies for both vehicle and mass transit it was included in the 1959 transportation plan of the National Capital region prepared by the National Capital Planning Commission and the National Capital Regional Planning Council in cooperation with the several jurisdictions in the area and was shown again as a vital part of the plan for the year 2000 prepared by the same agencies 35-210-64- -2 |