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The apartment buildings will have running through the center a ventilation duct with fans to actually draw out the air. It will not be an attempt to force the ventilation but use the traffic itself.

Mr. DOWDY. Whether the traffic will do it will depend a great deal on the length of the tunnel.

Colonel PRENTISS. That is right.

Mr. Dowdy. In a long tunnel, it would not effectively do it but in a short tunnel, the movement of traffic would furnish neutralization. Mr. STEIGER. I have no questions, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. DOWDY. Thank your, sir.

Mr. DOWDY. Mr. R. D. Wallace, Deputy Director, Department of Highways and Traffic.

STATEMENT OF RICHARD D. WALLACE, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, DEPARTMENT OF HIGHWAYS AND TRAFFIC, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Mr. WALLACE. I appreciate the opportunity to appear in support of H.R. 12507, a Bill to authorize the Commissioners of the District of Columbia to lease airspace above and below freeway rights-of-way within the District. Although my remarks are directed principally to H.R. 12507, I will also comment briefly on a companion bill, H.R. 12508, providing for the utilization of public space in, on, over, and under the streets and alleys, other than freeways, and on H.R. 12506, a bill that will authorize the Commissioners to fix and collect rents from the occupancy of public space.

Mr. FRASER. Mr. Chairman, I wonder if it would be possible, if the witness is prepared, to put this in the record and have him comment on some of the high spots. I know we are going to run out of time.

Mr. DowDY. You have a rather long statement. Would you let us insert this in the record and you highlight it for us?

Mr. WALLACE. I would be very glad to, yes, sir.
Mr. DOWDY. Thank you.

(The statement follows:)

STATEMENT OF MR. R. D. WALLACE, DEPUTY DIRECTOR DEPARTMENT OF HIGHWAYS AND TRAFFIC, D. C.

Mr. Chairman: I appreciate the opportunity to appear in support of H. R. 12507, a Bill to authorize the Commissioners of the District of Columbia to lease airspace above and below freeway rights-of-way within the District. Although my remarks are directed principally to H.R. 12507, I will also comment briefly on a companion Bill, H.R. 12508, providing for the utilization of public space in, on, over, and under the streets and alleys, other than freeways, and on H.R. 12506, a Bill that will authorize the Commissioners to fix and collect rents from the occupancy of public space.

The utilization of air rights for the construction of important structures both over and under streets and freeways is not new in the United States, or for that matter, in other countries. Although the Department of Highways and Traffic, D.C. has examined and is familiar with these nationwide development, I will limit my remarks to existing and projected developments within the District of Columbia.

It is a well-known and accepted fact that as land use in the central city intensifies, property costs rise and right-of-way becomes increasingly difficult to acquire for necessary public works of all types, The problems of displacement, loss of tax revenue, etc., increase in size and complexity. Their satisfactory solution becomes of extreme importance to the proper execution of large, important public works projects. Air rights authorization, as proposed in this Bill, will furnish a valuable tool to the District for use in coping with these problems.

It is also noteworthy that the Federal Highway Administrator and the Bureau of Public Roads, Department of Transportation, are actively promoting multipurpose use of space over and under limited access roadways for other uses such as parking.

I have with me today several exhibits, the first of which consists of a series of photographs depicting the use of air rights over arterial streets in the District of Columbia. In 1939, the roadway of Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. was depressed under Thomas Circle, thereby providing the means for eliminating a bad at-grade traffic conflict, while at the same time providing a park-like treatment on top. The development of the surface of the Circle can be seen in Photograph (1).

Later, the District constructed similar grade separations with park-type air rights treatment. Photograph (2) is of Scott Circle, where 16th Street, N.W. is depressed; Photograph (3) shows Dupont Circle, where Connecticut Avenue is depressed and where the surface treatment of the Circle is quite extensive; and the latest example of this type of usage is shown in Photograph (4)-Washington Circle, N.W., where the K Street Expressway is depressed and the surface of the Circle restored as a park.

Photograph (5) indicates a variation of multiple use wherein a ramp leading from Maine Avenue to 14th Street, S. W. was constructed through the Liberty Loan Building in 1943. Incidentally, this ramp carries approximately 6,000 vehicles per day and is a forerunner of the joint highway-building development which we firmly believe should be promoted in connection with some of the currently authorized District highway-freeway projects. Insofar as can be determined, no serious conflict between motor vehicles and building occupants has taken place at this facility.

An opinion voiced at many recent public hearings whenever air rights housing developments are mentioned is to the effect that "I would not want to live over a freeway." Similarly, some people do not like living in apartments as compared to single family dwellings, and some people object to living in the city. But, with proper regard to noise prevention and ventilation, there should be no difference between living in housing built on air rights over a freeway and that built on private property adjacent to a city street, provided, of course, that the same quality of construction is used. With proper design for the prevention of air stagnation and noise control, I doubt that the average person could tell whether or not a particular apartment or dwelling is located over a freeway or highway. The point I am attempting to make can readily be seen in Photograph (6)—the new and luxurious Watergate Apartment building, recently constructed immediately adjacent to the Potomac River Freeway. The edge of the building is 55 feet from the freeway and 30 feet from the freeway tunnel under the newly reconstructed Virginia Avenue, N.W. True, the Watergate structure is not actually located over a freeway, but it is in such close proximity thereto as to make the problems of design closely comparable. Therefore, it does not take much imagination to visualize an air rights housing development constructed over a freeway that could be fully as lavish and luxurious as the Watergate Apartments.

Also shown in this same photograph is the Columbia Plaza Development currently under construction. It is located closely adjacent to the interchange of the Potomac River Freeway and the E Street Expressway. I might add that this project and the Watergate Apartments are being developed by private interests. The 12th Street Expressway under the Great Mall, where the surface of the Mall has been restored, is shown in Photograph (7), and air rights parking that has been developed under the Southwest Freeway may be seen in Photograph (8). The illustrations, thus far, have been for facilities already constructed.

At this point in my presentation, I would like to direct your attention to the map and overlay exhibit which you see before you, indicating air rights sites in the District of Columbia. The locations shown in GREEN (in square blocks) are in the final design stage or under construction; those in BLUE (in circles) are proposed locations; and potential air rights'locations are shown in RED (in triangles) Time does not permit my discussing each item shown on this exhibit, however, I would like to mention a few of the more important ones.

Beginning with the sites indicated in GREEN (square blocks):

(a) 9th Street Expressway under the Great Mall: This project, which will utilize air rights for Mall restoration, consists of a 1600-foot, three-lane tunnel facility under the Mall, requiring ventilation. It will complement the existing 12th Street Expressway by handling traffic in the reverse direction to the south.

(b) L'Enfant Plaza Hotel-Office building over the 9th Street Expressway: Photograph (9) is a model of the entire 10th Street Mall area in the Southwest Urban Renewal Area, and shows this layout quite well. The hotel over the 9th Street Expressway is shown in the left center, the 10th Street Mall and L'Enfant Plaza is shown in the center, and the Forrestal Building, in itself a fine example of air rights joint usage, is shown at the upper end. Photograph (10) is a close-up of the model looking southwest and it shows some of the joint use details. Photograph (11) is an oblique air photograph looking north, with Maine Avenue in the foreground, and showing the status of construction. You will note that the buildings at the 10th Street Mall and 9th Street Expressway are well along. Incidentally, the use of air rights for the hotel and office building construction was authorized by specific enabling legislation by the Congress.

(c) I-95 Inner Loop Center Leg joint usage across the Great Mall directly west of the Capitol: This project is approximately three-quarters of a mile in length, and it will cost in the neighborhood of $50 million. Photograph (12) is an oblique of the model looking north and showing the elimination of 3rd Street across the Mall, the creation of a new ceremonial Louisiana Avenue, and a handsome reflecting pool.

Also, in this same photograph, at the north portal of the Mall tunnel, is the large new Labor Department Building, presently being advertised for bids by the General Services Administration. This project, shown as Item (e) on the map before you, is estimated to cost approximately $40 million and to house approximately 6,000 employees.

The Labor Department Building and the Center Leg tunnel have received detailed step-by-step coordination over the past two years. The building will extend for a two-block length between Constitution Avenue and D Street, with wings constructed on air rights over 2nd and 3rd Streets. A closer view of this same structure is shown in Photograph (13), which shows tunnel ventilation shafts that have been incorporated into the building, one of the exit ramps on C Street, and the freeway in a depressed section beyond. On this project, joint purchase of property has resulted in the surface and above rights being retained by the General Services Administration, with the undersurface rights for freeway construction remaining with the District Government.

The roadway project has just been advertised, and we are confident that when completed, this building will be recognized as one of the world's outstanding examples of the joint use concept.

A facility also under construction involves air rights joint use concept for a full block (7th and 8th Streets, S.E.) under the Southeast Freeway. Shown on the map as Item (d) and more clearly depicted in Photograph (14), this concept is one of three suggested by our consultants for which we hold great promise. Actually, the District will need air rights legislation comparable to that contained in H.R. 12507 to proceed with this development inasmuch as the Redevelopment Land Agency or the General Services Administration are not active in the immediate area.

In addition to projects under design or construction, we have two in the planning stage. The first is shown as Item (b) in Blue (in circles) on the display map and consists of a smaller but companion project which we hope will be undertaken by the General Services Administration just north of the south portion of the I-95 Mall tunnel.

The other item, (a) shown in blue, is another air rights site of prime importance. It involves the joint development of housing and freeways on the northerly end of the Center Leg, between H and K Streets, N.W. The photograph which you see before you (Photograph 15) was taken from a rendering made in connection with an air rights study undertaken by a nationally-known corsultant under contract to the Department of Highways and Traffic, D.C. The study was conducted with the close cooperation of the Bureau of Public Roads, the D.C. Redevelopment Land Agency, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and last, but not least, with the members of the Urban League Neighborhood Development Center of the Washington Urban League, in whose area this project is located. I have with me today copies of the consultant's study which I will be happy to make available to members of this Committee.

We believe this housing project to be an essential complementing facility to the construction of the upper end of the Center Leg Freeway, inasmuch as it will provide a sizeable amount of satisfactory housing as a replacement for that which must be taken by the construction of the Center Leg northward to New

York Avenue. The proposed housing development will be undertaken by the Redevelopment Land Agency, with the assistance of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and we are hopeful that we may obtain final approvals in order to permit early construction.

You will also observe from the map and overlay display that there are also a sizeable number of additional sites that appear to have great future potential for air rights development either during or after freeway construction. Most of the future site development, however, must await passage of the subject legislation since it is believed that most of them will likely be undertaken by the sale of air rights to private interests.

My comments to this point have been related to developments of the type anticipated in H.R. 12507, namely, in connection with freeways. In a similar and somewhat comparable manner, air rights construction over and under city streets and alleys is covered in H.R. 12508.

As in the case of freeways, air rights building construction over and under city streets and alleys is not new or novel in the United States. There are numerous examples in all large cities. H. R. 12508 would, subject to the safeguards that are incorporated into the proposed legislation, give the Commissioners, D.C. the ability to authority construction of air rights structures at selected locations over District streets and alleys.

PROPOSED AMENDMENT

There is one small change in the language contained in the Bill presently under consideration that I would like to suggest. Due to recent trends toward greater heights in vehicles, I recommend that consideration be given to changing the 14foot dimension referred to in Sec. 4, line 17, Page 4 of H.R. 12508 to 15 feet. This will provide sufficient clearance to accommodate maximum vehicle heights of 13 feet 6 inches, which we believe the District will be adopting in the foreseeable future.

H.R. 12506, a Bill referred to as the District of Columbia Public Space Rental Act, will give the Commissioners, D.C. the authority to collect rent for private use of: (1) public space on or above the surface, and (2) subsurface public space. The former consists principally of the rental of surface public space to adjacent property owners for a variety of uses, including vehicle parking, where considered appro priate, and the latter relates principally to underground vault space rentals to adjacent property owners.

The primary purpose of the Bill is to provide a more practicable and better means of controlling private uses of public space, and secondly, to provide the District with revenue from such private usage of public space.

ESTIMATED REVENUES

It is estimated that the enactment of H.R. 12506 will result in substantial additional income to the District. There are, of course so many variables involved that it is extremely difficult to estimate with any great degree of accuracy the additional money which will be derived in this manner. We have, however, made an attempt to estimate the revenue which might be produced through enactment of this Bill. To better illustrate the point under discussion, two charts have been prepared which indicate the approximate number of the most likely uses of public space and the estimated revenue for each type use. I would like to note at this point that we presently collect rental on the use of public space vaults amounting to $81,500 annually on a total of 935 vaults. There are, however, approximately 1,640 vaults existing in public space, and under the proposed Bill the rental would not be based solely on actual use of the vaults, as is the case at present. Therefore, the revenue derived from this source could be expected to increase to somewhere in the neighborhood of $114,000 per year.

In addition, we have shown on the chart the most probable categories for public space rental including vaults, used car lots, parking lots and sidewalk cafes. Based upon all categories of public space rental, we estimate approximately $362,000 per year in revenue to the city.

Thank you for the opportunity to appear before your Committee in support of H.R. 12506, H.R. 12507 and H.R. 12508.

Mr. WALLACE. Colonel Prentiss has covered the bill very well, I believe. I have here a number of exhibits which the committee may be interested in which show some of the existing air rights and some of the proposed air rights in the city. It may not be well understood

by everyone, but we have had a form of air rights for a long time. This is in connection with our circles in the cities.

The first one you see is Thomas Circle which indicates 14th Street going underneath the Circle with the Parklight Development on top in air rights. The next one is of Scott Circle which is a similar development. The next one is Dupont Circle in which there is very extensive development of the park area over Connecticut Avenue. The last one would be Washington Circle, the most recently completed.

Then we have another one, Photograph (5), which was built back, I believe, in 1939, which is a tunnel through the Liberty Loan Building, just off 14th Street and Maine Avenue. It is interesting to note in connection with this one that this tunnel carries about 6,000 vehicles per day and as far as we know we have never received any complaints from the occupants of the building.

If you are proceeding westbound on Maine Avenue there is a ramp that takes you to the right and takes you under the Liberty Loan Building.

Mr. FRASER. I have been through there.

Mr. STEIGER. Mr. Wallace, is there a record of excessive accidents or any accidents in that particular facility?

Mr. WALLACE. I could not answer that question. I will furnish it for the record. I do not think it is an accident problem.

(Subsequently, the following statement was received from Mr. Wallace for the record:)

Records of the Department of Highways and Traffic, D.C. indicate that no accidents have been reported on the ramp proper under the Liberty Loan Building, connecting westbound Maine Avenue to southbound 14th Street, S. W. during the period beginning January 1, 1965 and ending September 1, 1967. However, there is a record of one accident which involved a vehicle leaving this ramp and striking a southbound vehicle on 14th Street, S.W. This accident actually occurred on the roadway of 14th Street, S. W., but it did involve a vehicle which had just left the ramp in question.

Mr. DowDY. All of these are public use. Is the Liberty Loan Building a government building?

Mr. WALLACE. Yes, sir, the GPO.

Mr. Dowdy. It is entirely public use.

Mr. WALLACE. That is correct.

Mr. Dowdy. These others will deal with private use.

Mr. WALLACE. That is right. In connection with some of the questions that have been raised about the livability of buildings and air rights and pollution and so forth, it is also interesting to note here, Photograph (6), that the Watergate Development in the Foggy Bottom area of the city, those new apartment complexes come as close as 55 feet to an existing freeway and tunnel. Likewise Columbia Plaza, which is being developed is within about 30 feet of the freeway. These are private developments and the conditions would be very much comparable as if you constructed air rights over the tunnel or constructed residences over a tunnel.

This picture, Photograph (7), shows another example of air rights where the 12th Street expressway carries traffic beneath the Mall. The next one, Photograph (8), is a type of use of air rights and is presently used as a parking area below the Southwest Freeway where it crosses South Capitol Street.

Also we have some rather extensive air rights development in the Southwest area. One, Photograph (9), is in connection with L'Enfant Plaza. This is the proposed building to be constructed.

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