Page:Highway Needs of the National Defense.pdf/14

4 Federal aid for interstate system improvement

Federal-aid funds authorized for the primary and urban Federal-aid systems are currently being allotted to projects on the interstate system at the rate of approximately $75,000,000 annually. No other highway expenditure of the Federal Government is more clearly justified by the national interest involved.

To provide for improvement of the system at a rate not slower than the essential minimum, consideration should be given to the advisability of the authorization of additional Federal appropriations earmarked for expenditure only on the interstate system in urban and rural areas. Funds so authorized should be apportioned among the States in such proportions as to permit substantially equal progress in the correction of existing deficiencies in all States.

In view of the extraordinary interstate and national interest attaching to the system, Federal participation in the cost of improvements made in a ratio greater than the normal 50 percent would seem appropriate.

Some States may elect to accelerate the necessary improvement of the system by borrowing capital. In any such case it would seem desirable that the Federal law permit future allotment of Federal funds to be applied to the retirement of the indebtedness incurred for such improvements, exclusive of interest, in the same manner as presently provided for participation in current costs of improvement.

CONTINUANCE OF AID FOR OTHER HIGHWAYS RECOMMENDED

The recommended provision of additional Federal funds earmarked for the interstate system should not be subtracted from the provision for other parts of the Federal-aid primary and urban system, nor from the provision for secondary roads. There are deficiencies on other primary routes, of the same character as those shown by this report to exist on the interstate system, and they are more numerous in proportion to the larger mileage involved.

The National Military Establishment has pointed out that there

may be additional routes, probably not exceeding a total of 2,500 miles, that are strategically as important as some now included in the interstate system. These are, doubtless, embraced in the Federal-aid primary system. Improvement of the principal secondary roads, long deferred, remains a present need whatever may be the provision for the primary roads, and these improvements also will contribute to a state of highway readiness for the national defense. The need for these other improvements is inferior only to needs on the interstate system.

The Federal Government should continue to authorize appropriations for the Federal-aid primary, urban, and secondary highway systems at rates not less than those established by the Federal-aid Highway Act of 1948.

DESIRABLE PROVISION FOR EMERGENCY CONSTRUCTION AND REPAIR OF ROADS AND BRIDGES

Before the outbreak of World War II there was recognized need for the construction or improvement of many sections of road required to give local access to new points of military and industrial concen-