LETTER OF SUBMITTAL
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE,
Washington, April 11, 1939.
The President,
The White House.
Dear Mr. President: In accord with your suggestion, the report of the Bureau of Public Roads which is now before you has been revised to present more clearly the need for a system of interregional through highways and the important relationships of such a system to the requirements of the national defense. The report has for its foundation the wealth of factual data collected through the highway planning surveys operated in cooperation between 46 of the State highway departments and the Bureau. Now consolidated, the Nationwide pattern, qualitative and quantitative, of highway usage is developed for the first time.
In part I, the report in its present form, defines the locaton of three east–west and three north-south highways conforming to the description of section 13 of the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1938, approved June 8, 1938, and indicates conclusively that financing of the full costs of such highways by direct-toll collections is not possible.
In the second part, the report discusses at length the development to date of the composite street and highway system of the country, and presents the general outlines of what in effect is a master highway plan for the Nation. The details of the plan outlined will be supplied progressively by continued studies already arranged for in cooperation with the State highway departments.
Pointing out clearly that the carrying out of the composite plan calls for appropriate and coordinated contributions by the Federal and State Governments and by all county and municipal subdivisions, the report proposes definite joint action by the Federal Government and the States.
Primary importance is attached to the designation and progressive improvement of a system of direct interregional highways designed to facilitate the long and expeditious movements that may be necessary in the national defense, and similarly wide-ranging travel of motorists in their own vehicles—a travel which, in addition to its immediate recreational benefits, is a powerful force for national unity.
In addition to this new activity the report proposes continued cooperation with the States in the modernization of the Federal-aid highway system, the elimination of hazards at railroad grade crossings, and the improvement of secondary and feeder roads properly integrated with programs of desirable land-use.
The report emphasizes the limitations hitherto placed upon highway and street improvements by inadequate provision for the acquisition of appropriate rights-of-way, and the fundamental importance of suitable provision for dealing with the right-of-way problem in
