text: New plan The RLA was the first to propose a major plaza along 10th Street NW. It commissioned architects Robert Justement and Chloethiel Woodard Smith to devise a master site plan for Southwest D.C. The Justement-Smith plan, released in 1952, called for wholesale clearance of the area. Notably, the Justement-Smith plan also proposed building an esplanade above 10th Street SW (to allow it to pass over the railroad tracks and the then-under construction Southwest-Southeast Freeway) which would connect with Maine Avenue SW. The RLA later said it had studied putting the mall anywhere from 5th Street to 12th Street, but that 10th Street was the only economical location. Parks would border the esplanade east and west, with a goal of providing an unobstructed view of the Smithsonian Institution headquarters and the National Mall. In November 1952, the NCPC released a report largely supporting the Justement-Smith plan (although emphasizing the construction of low-rise townhouses rather than a "forest" of high-rise apartment buildings). The NCPC report also approved of the plan to build an esplanade above 10th Street SW, although it noted that there were significant geographical obstacles to the plan. In 1953, the RLA asked developers to submit plans based on the NCPC's November 1952 compromise report.