WASHINGTON CHANNEL AND THE WATER FRONT
The water front of Washington is to be similar to the magnificent water fronts of large cities of Europe. The plan provides for a quay, with space for commercial piers, warehouses, steamboat offices, commercial houses, boathouses, and recreational piers. There will be a beautiful boulevard drive along “Water Street” which will connect with Anacostia Park, also adequate street-railway accommodations. Washington has 18 miles of water front, and this will be a most interesting part of it.
It is proposed to replace all existing structures on the water front at “Water Street,” with the exception of the Municipal Fish Wharf, with modern buildings. Head houses and transit sheds are to be of brick and tile, with slate roofs and of a modified colonial architecture. A total of six wharves is projected for immediate construction and a portion of the frontage available is to be reserved for future additions. Yacht basins and small-boat anchorage are included in the plan. The plan has been prepared by the United States Engineer Office, with the idea that Washington is not primarily an industrial city, nor will it ever be, so that railroad connections with the piers and slips were omitted. Such industrial developments as might require ship-to-rail transfers can be accommodated in other locations. Buzzards Point is to be developed for maritime commercial uses.
Under the improvement program “Water Street” is to be made a 160-foot boulevard, with separate lanes for traffic, street cars, and trucks, and marginal and central landscaping. The old 4-line street-car lanes on a portion of the street have been removed. To permit of direct connection with East Potomac Park and the Highway Bridge, a bridge is to be built just below the railroad crossing at the head of the Washington Channel. Water Street is now Maine Avenue.
GEORGE WASHINGTON MEMORIAL PARKWAY
The cost of the entire project is estimated at $3,691,600. The report was submitted by the Secretary of War to the Speaker of the House of Representatives on November 26, 1929, and then was referred to the Committee on Rivers and Harbors. The project is now under development.
FISH MARKET ALONG THE WATER FRONT