Page:Report of Joint Board on Interstate Highways.pdf/8

 morally too weak to reject financial support offered them by an alternate route, they accepted both routes and both sets of contributions. In a great many cases such alternate routes exist among the marked trails, and very few of them were entirely free from this objectionable feature. There are also routes which branch and are a collection of routes rather than a single route. This condition of having two or more different roads carrying the same route designation was as confusing as having several designations applying to the same route, and was equally productive of complaint.

In determining the locations of the routes marked by the trails organizations the line of least resistance financially was ordinarily taken. The line was routed where the most financial support could be secured. This condition often introduced into the named trails details of location and alignment that could not be defended on economic or engineering grounds.

Finally there was developing more and more resistance to any departure from the marked trails when, in the course of a State road program, it became desirable to construct or reconstruct a road, lay out or extend the State road system, or adopt routes for continuous or priority construction. The interests back of the individual route protested the interests of the community as a whole, and exerted their influence to make good showing to their supporters regardless of the real intrinsic merit of their location. This meant that faulty locations and improperly adjusted priority of construction were threatening to affect seriously the road-building program.

It may fairly be said that the conditions recited prevailed among the marked trails as a whole. There were conspicuous cases of public spirited work, by men of wide vision, who under careful management were promoting worthily the construction of connected roads, and doing much to improve highway transport conditions in the country, but these organizations working independently and having no co-ordinating agency could not be expected to develop a unified and correlated system of routes. Such organizations still have an important work to do in moulding and guiding an enlightened public opinion with respect to local road matters in the communities where they are interested. This can be done by fostering conservative ideas regarding construction, better and more economical maintenance of roads, and a fuller respect for highway regulations and for the highway itself.