Congress directed the DC Board of Commissioners “to prepare a plan for the extension of a permanent system of highways over all that portion of said District not included within the limits of the cities of Washington and Georgetown.”

The act conveyed that the system “shall be made as nearly in conformity with the street plan of the city of Washington as the Commissioners may deem advisable and practicable.” It specified that new highways shall not be less than ninety feet nor more than one hundred and sixty feet. Further, it specified the Commissioners should “lay out at the intersections of the principal avenues and streets thereof circles or other reservations corresponding in number and dimensions with street intersections in the city of Washington.” Note that at this time, highways referred to present day streets and avenues, not freeways.