Minutes 10/12/1943 - Laserfiche WebLink

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At a..regutar meetLng of the City Oouncil, held October 12~th, '19~3, at ?:30 P.M., ~here were present: Jo~~ P. Lel~ Geese~ L. Grimes.y. Rus~ett ~M. Hall, Jame~-.N. How~, W. R. Hu~ehins, O.E. Warren, Pearle J.. Wilson and Arthur S.~Owens, City Manager. ~nu~es of regul~ mee~i~ ~ld~September 30th, were read and~approved. .w~ m~-tio~n of Mr. Hewa~. ~e' ~mles-were~ suspended -to hear f~m ~he -Trans-~ po~ta~io~ 0emmi~e~ ~..Howa~' s~ate$ ~t ~e Oom~$tt'ee went ~o Washington to the Office of ~erense Transportation, in rez'erence ~o cue ~ranspo~ation~in this 0try. Mr. Ross of the Vi~l~a Electric ~d Power Co,name, read the felle~nM: "Mr. ~y A. ~o~rdson~ Director, ' DivisiOn' of ~cat Tr~spor~, Office oS Defense' Transportation, Wa~ing~on, D. O. Dear Er. Riohardson~ Subject: Special Order CDT LB-!2 At a meeting held Friday, October let, in Washington, to discuss the transportation ~ituation here in Portsmouth, brought about by special Order ODT LB-I~, Mr. Sim- mons and Mr. Roberts suggested that in view of Mr. Simmons' imminent transfer.to New York, the proposals presented at the meetint be confirmed in writing direct to you through my office as it is responsible for carrying out CDT instructions in Portsmouth. Those present at the begin~ ming of the conferenee were: Messrs. P.M. Simmons and F.E. Relfschneider cf ODT, R~0. Barcta~, City Attorney, ~.N. Howard and R.M. Hall- Couneil Transportation Committee, and the writer, F.U.Ross- Virginia Electric &~Power Company Manager for Portsmouth. The latter part of the discussion was adjourned to the office of Mr. E.A. Roberts~of CDT. On September 4th, 1943, Mr. Simmons' office submitted for the considera- tion of the Portsmouth City Oouncil, transportation plans which resulted in counter sugEes - tions that were discussed at the conference. It was felt that although the bus routes suggest- ed by OPT accomplished some of the objectives sought 'by the City, if carried out a~ suggested they would cause considerable public dissatisfaction, whereas if the suggestions made by the Council T~nsportation Committee were approved, the same purposes and eeonomies could be ef - fected with a generally satisfactory reaction. ~ With this Xdea in mind, the following suggestions were made by the Ports-! mouth City Oounoit Transportation Oommittee: t. The Committee suggests that the present Orcestown line In Porttmouth,I originallY formed by a combination of West Park View and Prentis Park routes,~he changed to a combination of the Wes~ Park View s~d the Navy Yard rou~es. ~hen t~he present Crosstown route was started, it was believed ~ha~ through elimination of the Sixth Avenue route, as called for in Order LB-t2~"there would be enough added patronage thrown ~o West Park View to justify its hook-up with the ~ore 'frequ~n~ Prentis Park schedule. This assumption proved to be in error and since the combination was made the West Park View section has been comparatively over-serviced whereas ~tHe Prentis Park end which retained its previous schedule is if anything somewhat under-serviced. By changing tca West Park View - Navy Yard combination two desirable results are accomplished: West Park View is combined with a slower schedule which means a considerable mileage saving, and the whole north side covered by the West Park View route gains a direct line to the Navy Yard. This ehange would leave Prentls Park route without a downtown termi- nus. The plan includes restoring this route to its original lo~p around Crawford and Oounty ets., which from a ~mileage standpoint would be approximately o~et by the removal ef this same loop from the Navy Yard line~ Restoration of this loop to the P~entie Park route would consti- tute a violation of Order LB 12, Section 3 - Paragraph (e), and we un~er~tand would call for an amendment t o this order. It is generally felt that further economy on the Prentis Park line could be secured by eliminating the ~ale Homes loop, ae this loop is within easy walking di~ - tahoe to Columbu~ St.. ie impassable-in wet weather, and serves as a playground for children during the day. This plan assumes that the West Park View and the Park View routes would be left as at present rather than combined-into one large one-way loop as suggested in the September 4th CDT letter. A number of reasons were presented as to why it is believed the presen~ two-way route would be preferable which may be summed up b~ saying that the mileage is approximately ~he same and as arale when one,~ay service'is substituted for two-way set- ?lee enjoyed in the past, general dissatisfaction result~s. The over-all .economy secured through this whole suggestion is in- cluded in a summary later in this letter. 8, (a) It was suggested by the Council Committee in view of the desir- ability of the West Park View - Navy Yard cro~stown 'hook-up Aud the fact that High St:, the main stree~ in Portsmouth, will require more bus service between the:Ferry and the Belt Line Railroad crossing, due to developments ~n the croesing.:a~e~, the restorat~ion of the Sixth A~e. line on its original rou~e would be preferable to the .suggestion in the~ODT September4th let- ter. There is a project of some 180 uni~e of colored aoa*~men.t homse~-new~mo~t near the Bel~line crossing which ~!ll reeuireadditional service 'of some ch~+~ ~. ~o ~na~ point..Restoration of the ~ixth Ave. line..would a¢comolieh this ~o ~le a~ditigna~ mil~ge inasmuch as any turnback here would necessitate ~U~in~ ~u~~ some zoep ~o ~urn ~em arouna. ' Nothing was said of headways or schedules in any of the suggestions l made by ODT but if the Sixth Ave. route is ~estored, the plan ie to put in 30 minute base ser- Vice ins~eadof the 15 minute service originally provided. This 30 minute service would re - quire one bus. The restoration of this route im this manner would accomplish several desirable