beginning of a system of national highways of the permanent type that would eventually connect all parts of the United States, and I am sure that if the purposes of the bill should be carried out by securing the right of way and securing the construction of the type of highway proposed that the field of activity of construction provided for would be extended so as to enable the same organization to secure additional rights of way and construct or cause to be constructed additional highways until the Nation would be linked together as it should be. Again let me say that the terms and provisions of the bill have struck me with force and I am sure that I can speak for the Mississippi State highway department when I say that full cooperation will be given the authorities operating under the terms of this bill by the State highway department of Mississippi. If I can be of any assistance to you in getting to the attention of our Senate and Congress the importance of this bill, will thank you to call upon me. Yours very truly, J. C. ROBERTS, Chairman State Highway Commission. SENATOR COLEMAN DU PONT, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: I have carefully studied the copy of Senate bill 4675, which was attached to your letter of December 18. The intent of the bill to acquire control and ultimately obtain revenue from a wide highway right of way is most unusual. However, it is an attractive scheme, as all highway engineers are painfully aware of the increment to abbutting property values occasioned by the improvement of the highway. That the Federal Government should take advantage of this increment and leasing value is sound. Thereby the highway would be largely self-supporting. Without doubt great difficulty would be encountered in many sections in the obtaining of a strip 500 feet in width. I doubt whether any States, except those in which the land was of low value, would be willing to furnish the right of way. This, however, is not serious for provision is made for the Federal Government to acquire this right of way at its own expense. Such a highway should be laid out to avoid towns, even those with a population of 2,500. The skirting of a town would be a local advantage rather than a disadvantage. I doubt the advisability of the provisions on page 3, section 3, line 15, which exempts the employes of this commission from the civil service laws. After considerable experience in public life, it seems to me that the people of the country desire that the civil service system be followed as a matter of public policy. I believe the people as a whole will have more confidence in the organization if its employes, outside of the main executive officers, are under the provisions of civil service. I am glad to have the opportunity to give you my comments on this bill.I firmly believe that something of this nature will be enacted into law in the near future. The country needs such a facility, and the planning and building of the first major highway would undoubtedly be followed by others. The States are not accomplishing results with sufficient rapidity to meet the demand of the motorists. The type of highways built by the individual States necessarily can not provide adequately for all classes of traffic, because of the great pressure of local demands for more highways. Therefore, many points in the State's construction are inadequately provided for. I am sure that the Western States will be solidly behind your porposal. R. M. MORTON, State Highway Engineer. DEPARTMENT OF HIGHWAYS AND PUBLIC WORKS, Hon. COLEMAN DU PONT, United States Senator, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR DU PONT: This is in reply to your letter of December 18, 1926, forwarding a copy of Senate bill 4675 which provides for a survey of a coast to cost superhighway route. After a rather thorough examination of this bill by the members of the division of highways of this department we have concluded that it is a very desirable measure to be made a law. So far as I can see the bill has been well prepared and I have no suggestions or revisions to offer. I believe that an investigation of the necessity and desirability of such a highway is highly desirable and for the ultimate good of the greatest development in transportation ever recorded in history-the motor vehicle and the highway on which it operates. Trusting that nothing will interfere with the enactment of this law, I am Very truly yours, G. F. SCHLESINGER, Director of Highways and Public Works. STATE HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT, Columbia, S. C., December 27, 1926. Hon. COLEMAN DU PONT, United States Senator, Washington, D. C. MY DEAR SENATOR DU PONT: I have your letter of December 18, together with a copy of Senate bill 4675 providing for a survey of a superhighway between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. I have read the bill through with much interest and to me the idea seems sound. If this bill should be enacted into law, I believe the country as a whole will gain much from the example of a road planned and constructed entirely from a national viewpoint. My observation is that main highways all over the country are rapidly becoming inadequate for the traffic using them and even those being planned at present seldom show large vision with respect to future adequacy. Apart from the object lesson feature, which strikes me as being the most important, the service value of the road would doubtless equal the investment in dollars and cents. The commission provided for in your bill might possibly be the best instrumentality for materializing the idea. I believe, however, that the present Federal Bureau of Public Roads is probably the most efficient organization unit of the Federal Government, and I am inclined to the view that you might safely rely upon the chief of that bureau for guidance in working out the necessary legislative plan for this project. Thanking you for the opportunity you have afforded me to offer suggestions, I am, Yours very truly, Hon. COLEMAN DU PONT, CHAS. H. MOOREFIELD, DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: I have your letter of December 18, attaching a copy of Senate bill No. 4675, providing for the survey and construction of a superhighway from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast. My first reaction was and is that not only such a highway should be built but that there should be several others of like character. On talking with Colonel Greene I found that he had already answered your letter and that his views regarding the subject were very much like mine. We are both agreed, however, that it should be a Government activity entirely and that the only interests that the State should have in it should be to provide the necessary rights of way and whatever other cooperation the Government might demand or need. Yours very truly, A. W. BRANDT, Commissioner. DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS, Hon. COLEMAN DU PONT, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. MY DEAR SENATOR: I am in receipt of your letter of December 18 and Senate bill S. 4075, which is to provide for the construction of a national highway from the Atlantic to the Pacific coasts. As for some years I have had a similar idea in mind, I am deeply interested in this measure of yours. Although I have not read the bill through but once, I take the liberty of replying immediately in order to record my first reaction. The idea of a military road from the Atlantic to the Pacific is not only a good one, but I think a necessary one. If this road is ever constructed, I am confident that it will be followed by two north-and-south national routes, one to the east of the Mississippi and one to the west. In regard to the provisions of the bill: (1) As such a road will be of tremendous benefit to any State through which it passes, I am rather inclined to think that the bill should provide that the road will be built only in those States which will donate the necessary rights of way. (2) I would suggest that the right of way be limited to not less than 100 feet in width instead of 500 feet. A 100-foot right of way will allow for eight traffic lanes, necessary shoulders and ditches in level ground, and, of course, in rough country the right of way can be extended. It can also be extended where you desire camping sites and landing places for airplanes. (3) Leases on right of way, page 12: I think it would be safer to grant revokable permits instead of leases with rental adjustments of 10-year periods. With a revokable permit, rentals could be adjusted at the end of every one or two years and if extreme necessity arose, the permit could be immediately revoked. (4) Traffic lanes, page 13: The bill now reads: "A highway shall be so constructed as to permit a two-way fast traffic for tourists and nontruck traffic, and a two-way traffic for trucks and heavy traffic." I think it would be better to word this, "Not less than a two-way fast traffic," etc. When nearing large cities, it may be found that four-way traffic will not accommodate the vehicles which will want to use this road at its completion. For instance, near Buffalo, New York, or Brooklyn, our four-way traffic roads are now overcrowded and the same condition holds, I believe, in Philadelphia, Chicago, and other large cities. (5) Construction by State highway departments, page 15: I think that this provision is altogether bad. Uniformity in construction for this great highway is most desirable. There are good highway departments and poor highway departments in this country. There are some which are building roads on a business standard and there are some which are still building politically. In my opinion, the Federal Government should build every mile of this road by its own engineers and upon its own specifications. The above, Senator, are my first impressions of the bill. Let me add that I am deeply interested in the project and will be happy to cooperate with you to the best of my ability, in seeing this important project carried to a successful conclusion. If, at any time, I could have the privilege of meeting and talking to you about this matter, I would gladly seize the opportunity. Sincerely yours, FRED'K. STUART GREENE, Superintendent of Public Works. STATE HIGHWAY COMMISSION, Hon. COLEMAN DU PONT, United States Senator, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: I have read a copy of Senate bill 4675, which was introduced by you in the Sixty-ninth Congress and which provides for a survey for a superhighway located as directly as is practicable from the Atlantic to the Pacific Coast, with a great deal of interest. I am heartily in favor of the bill substantially as drawn and trust that its passage will be effected without much delay or difficulty. It is a most forward looking piece of legislation, but nevertheless its consummation will not be effected any sooner than the need for such a transcontinental superhighway will be an urgent public necessity. I will be very glad indeed to have this proposed legislation presented to our Senators and Congressmen by many influential Oklahoma citizens with their recommendations and requests that it be given favorable consideration and action. Wishing you a full measure of success in transforming Senate bill 4675 into a law and pledging you my earnest support of it, I am Respectfully yours, J. M. PAGE, State Highway Engineer. (Whereupon, at 5.45 o'clock p. m., the hearing was closed.) |