was already owned by the federal government. It was admittedly more expensive than the ridge-top route ($4.2 million, or 25 percent more). The Secretary of War, Commission of Fine Arts, National Capital Park and Planning Commission, Virginia Highway Commission, and Alexandria Chamber of Commerce all supported the BPR proposal. Opposition to the river's edge route came from Fairfax County merchants, who pointed to the ridge-top route's extensive vistas, the need for extensive land reclamation at several points (Fourmile Run, Roaches Run, and Great Hunting Creek), and the proximity of the route to the railroad tracks and industrial buildings at the Potomac Yards. The Mount Vernon Memorial Highway of 1928 In 1928, Moore and Senator Claude A. Swanson introduced identical bills (S.1369 and H.R. 4625) to build a memorial highway from Arlington Memorial Bridge to Mount Vernon at a cost of $4.5 million. The Washington Bicentennial Commission would oversee the project, with support from the United States Department of Agriculture with surveys, architectural and engineering plans, land acquisition, construction, etc. The bicentennial commission was also authorized to determine the route. Proponents of the ridge-top route pressed their case, but Moore pointed to the 1927 BPR report, as expert proof that the river's-edge route was preferable. Support for the Moore-Swanson bill also came from President Calvin Coolidge, the bicentennial commission, the US Senate, the Bureau of the Budget, the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the George Washington Masonic National Memorial Association. S. 1369 passed the Senate on March 6, 1928. (No vote totals were reported.) In the House, the cost of the bill, the use of federal funds for a local infrastructure project, and concerns that a highway was not the appropriate way to commemorate George Washington all were raised as objections to the bill. Rep. Louis C. Cramton, leader of a coalition of interests that wanted to protect the Potomac River banks from any development, criticized the damage to the environment the highway would cause, the stuffy architectural designs, and the elaborate roadside attractions which had been proposed. But patriotic concerns won the day. The House voted in favor of HR 4625 by a margin of 177 to 61 on May 22, 1928. President Calvin Coolidge signed the measure into law on May 24. The legislation authorizing construction of the George Washington Memorial Highway is Public Law 493. Its formal title is "An act to authorize and direct the survey,