Dear Commissioner Tobriner:
Thank you for your letter of March 31, 1966, transmitting the statement of the Policy Advisory Committee on the plans for interstate freeways within the District of Columbia, and advising me that the Board of Commissioners has endorsed the statement of the Committee.
The Committee's decision to seek the aid of a consultant, and its unanimous statement following the consultant's report, are reassuring to me and will be reassuring to the Congress and the citizens of the District of Columbia. This review demonstrates that freeways, which the District must have, can and will be located and constructed in ways that reflect all significant community needs and values. I hope that the necessary funds will speedily be made available.
Sincerely,
LYNDON B. JOHNSON
[Hon. Walter N. Tobriner, President, Board of Commissioners, District of Columbia, Washington, D.C.]
Note: Commissioner Tobriner's letter was made public by the White House along with the President's reply.
The Policy Advisory Committee, which had undertaken the study on January 19 at the President's request, recommended "that certain freeway projects, for which construction is either underway or imminent, should proceed without delay, and that future project plans be reviewed with increased emphasis on the reduction of the impact of such construction on our communities."
Mr. Tobriner's letter stated that the Commissioners "strongly support actions to reduce such community impact in the District of Columbia, even though the obvious measures that are contemplated by the Committee will undoubtedly result in increased construction costs."
The complete text of the letter is printed in the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents (vol. 2, p. 487).
The 3-page "Statement of the Policy Advisory Committee on Current Freeway Plans for the District of Columbia," dated March 31, 1966, was made available with the text of the letters.
Lyndon B. Johnson, Letter Concerning Construction of Freeways in the District of Columbia Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/239439