Administration
of the
Federal-Aid
Program
Early Federal Government Interest in Roads
The first Federal financial aid specifically for the construction of roads in the States was incorporated into the Ohio Statehood Enabling Act in 1802 which provided that 5 percent of the proceeds of the sale of public (Federal) lands in Ohio was to be set aside for roads. Upon the insistence of the State of Ohio, the Act was amended in 1803 to provide that 3 percent of the funds would be available for roads within the State and 2 percent of the funds would be used under the direction of Congress for constructing roads to and through Ohio.[1]
This form of Federal assistance was later extended to all the States that had public lands when they were admitted to statehood, but the purposes for which the funds could be used were broadened to include canals, levees, river improvements, and schools.
In 1806 an act authorized the Federal Government to lay out and build the famous Cumberland Road—from the head of navigation on the Potomac River at Cumberland, Maryland, to a point on the Ohio River—provided that permission should first be secured from the Legislatures of Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania to build the road within their boundaries. Funding was to be from the Ohio 2 percent fund.
The debate in Congress before the Cumberland Road Act was approved, centered on the constitutional issue of whether or not the Federal Government had the authority to build roads at all, except possibly in the territories. The Act was finally passed without resolving the constitutional issue.
Because the Cumberland Road deteriorated badly as a result of heavy traffic and lack of funds for maintenance, Congress, in 1822, passed a bill authorizing the Federal Government to collect tolls to be used for maintenance. This bill was vetoed by President Monroe on the constitutional grounds that it was an unwarranted extension of the power vested in Congress to make appropriations. Collection of tolls, the President said, implied a power of jurisdiction or sovereignty which was not granted to the Federal Government by the Constitution and could not be unilaterally conveyed by any State without a constitional amendment. He felt “. . . that it was one thing to make appropriations for public improvements, but an entirely different thing to assume jurisdiction and sovereignty over the land whereon those improvement were made.”[2] President Monroe’s position has continued to be the Federal position on highway matters to the present day.
During the next 9 years, the Cumberland Road continued to deteriorate despite a few meager Federal appropriations for maintenance, and it was finally recognized that the only solution was State operation as a toll road.[3] In 1831 and 1832 the Legislatures of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia agreed to accept and maintain their sections of the Cumberland Road.[4]
The Federal Government attempted to extend the Cumberland (National) Road westward to the Mississippi River. In 1820 Congress appropriated $10,000 to locate the road, and subsequent periodic appropriations were made for construction which ultimately totaled about $5 million. The Ohio Legisla-
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