Page:Highway Needs of the National Defense.pdf/5

 LETTER FROM THE COMMISSIONER OF PUBLIC ROADS TO THE ADMINISTRATOR

Washington, May 27, 1949.

Maj. Gen. , Administrator, Federal Works Agency.


 * The accompanying report has been prepared at the direction of the Congress, to reflect the status of improvement of the interstate highway system, with indicated needs to serve the national defense, and to supplement the report of February 1, 1941, with current appraisal of conditions and deficiencies of the general highway system.

The State highway departments have all joined in a remarkably detailed examination of the mile-by-mile physical condition of the interstate highway system, thus affording for the first time an accurate evaluation of the roads upon which is concentrated the interstate flow of traffic on a Nation-wide scale.

In the preparation of the report, in accord with the direction of the Congress, we have requested and received full cooperation of the Secretary of National Defense. We have also had the suggestions of the National Security Resources Board.

In much the same manner as our great rivers gather to themselves the flow from innumerable other streams and their tributaries, the interstate highway system receives and must carry about 20 percent of the total vehicle-mileage generated by more than 41 million motor vehicles. The system of interstate highways comprises only 1-plus percent of the total of public roads and streets. The high percentage of total traffic reflects its peacetime use. This same limited system of major roads is clearly indicated to constitute the routes essential to defense needs.

Any complacency we may have as to the present adequacy of these major roads to serve in peace or in war is shattered by the evidence presented. The average age of all roadways is 12 years. The average age of the roadbeds on which these surfaces rest is 17 years. After 10 years of a 20-year program of rehabilitation and replacement, now begun, the surfaces on the unreconstructed portion of the system would average about 20 years of age, their roadbeds at least 25 years. These average ages point to the realistic size of the undertaking with which we are confronted.

The most serious deficiency of our highways today, not only the interstate system, but others of greater or less importance, is their lack of capacity to provide for the ever-increasing number of motor vehicles in service. This year the production of motor vehicles at V