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Show SOUTH CACHE COURIER HYRUM. UTAH i Better Farm Travel Promised in Huge Federal-Stat- e Postwar Road Program Cooperation of Local Agencies Needed to Assure Share in Projects. By WALTER SIIEAD WNU Washington Correspondent WASHINGTON, D. C. Township trustees and highway supervisors, county highway superintendents, boards of county commissioners and other officials of local governmental units interested in secondary and feeder road construction and improvement have an unprecedented opportunity to take of federal funds in the advantage of the largest grant-in-ai- d history of the Public Roads administration. This grant of federal aid for highway and road construc0 tion, to be matched by the states on a 0 basis, totals and provides for a $500,000,000 expenditure of federal funds annually for the first three postwar fiscal years. That means, if the several states take advantage of all the funds, an expenditure of three billion dollars on highways will be made in the three-yea- r period. 50-5- This expenditure is to be divided annually for the regular federal aid highways; $125,000,000 annually for urban projects on the federal aid highway system and $150,000,000 for secondary and feeder roads. And it is this latter appropriation with which we are particularly concerned, for if all subdivisions of the state governments take advantage of this congressional appropriation for the three-yea- r period it will mean an expenditure of $900,000,000 on these roads which constitute 88 8 per cent of all our public highway mileage. The importance of participation by local governmental officials is pointed out for the reason that in most of the states it will be necessary to enact enabling legislation in order that local road officials and state highway departments may get together on a comprehensive plan which will take in these roads. The federal bureau of public roads deals only with state highway departments, so the cooperation of state and local highway departments is essential if this money is to go to loeal road construction. Legislatures Meet. In every state in the union with the exception of Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi and Virginia the state legislatures are, or have been, in session this year. The chances are that where necessary this enabling legislation is already before the state legislatures. In some states, for instance in North Carolina, West Virginia, Virginia, Delaware and Maryland, all county roads have been taken over by the state highway departments. In other states, such as the New England states, there is a working agreement that the state highway departments build the county roads. The point is, however, that this is lot a paternalistic gift to the local communities; the federal aid is extended on the basis of need and the extent of the cooperation between local road officials and their state highway departments. In a good many states a system of secondary roads has never been designated by the state highway departments, and this designation is one of the requirements so that the money spent can be under the supervision af the highway departments of the states. Insofar as the roads are concerned the $450,000,000 of federal funds for the three-yea- r period will be apportioned to the on the basis of states, d on the basis of rural area, on the population, and basis of rural post road mileage The importance of the development ef these secondary and feeder roads to the basic economy of the rural districts of the nation is immediately seen when it is pointed out that there are 2,936,000 miles of these roads and only about 5 per cent of that mileage is paved. About 38 per cent is surfaced with such material as topsoil, shale, untreated gravel and crushed rock and the remaining 57 per cent has ao surfacing of any kind In other words the millions of farmers living oa this 57 per cent of the mileroads are age af still in the mud Benefits Widespread. While there are no clearly defined boundaries of the areas of population groups especially served by any ene of the three classes of toads, that is federal-aihighways, Hrban roads and streets and the roads, all areas and all populations derive some benefit from the three groups of highways It is apparent, however, that people living outside of any municipality and people living in municipalities of less than 10 000 population are especialy interested in these $1,500,-000,00- $225,000,000 f; N Before; s y, After kvwAv iXrtflaM wv.v.v. wutf farm-to-mar-k- jSy K 8 & Before am. XOV 1 y farm-to-mark- farm-to-mark- one-thir- d one-thir- one-thir- d farm-to-mark- d farm-to-mark- et AfterL Widened, drained and graded, these county feeder roads in Maryland are now providing farmers with faster and smoother service to marketing centers. or secondary roads. farm-to-mark- And here are some population ures on that basis. There are fig- ap- proximately 21,000,000 people living in towns of less than 10,000 and about 48,000,000 people, mostly farmers, living outside of municipalities or a total of 69,000,000 people. So that 52 4 per cent of the total population of the country are in areas where the secondary and feeder roads are located and would receive a large measure of benefit from their improvement. But to be more specific, 44,000,000 people live on these secondary roads and they constitute the lifeline for 92 per cent of the 6,100,000 farms in the nation. Travel studies for the year 1941 showed that of the total of 310,800,000,000 vehicle miles traveled in the United States, was on the roads, or 34 5 per cent of the total vehicle miles traveled. Of course the funds to be available for the improvement of these secondary roads are not expected to improve all of them and it is the responsibility of local road officials and the state highway departments to determine what proportion can best be improved to provide the greatest good for the greatest number of people. Funds Limited. which According to estimates have been received from many states it is doubtful that funds provided m the three-yea- r period will provide improvement for as much of the entire secondary ds road system. And it is likely that thousands of miles of these secondary roads will never be improved. For instance. F. R. White, chief engineer of the Iowa State highway system, in testifying before the house of representatives road committee, said that studies in his state indicated that improvement of about 83 per cent of the rural secondary road mileage would provide a surfaced road to each farmhouse in the state. A goodly portion of the remaining 17 per cent of the mileage is so little used as to be nothing more than land-us- e trails, which could well be abandoned as public highways and the land turned back to corn production. Mr. White said In some states the need is much greater than in others, as was evidenced in some of the testimony before this committee. In Indiana, for instance, a large per cent of rural roads have some sort of surfacing like bituminous, crushed rock or gravel, while in Alabama the testimony showed that some 60,000 miles of the country road system is farm-to-mar-k- et one-thir- d Fifty-seve- n per cent of Americas vast network of rural secondary roads remain unsurfaced, with the result that many farmers still find themselves 't fre- quently stuck in the mud as this picture indicates. largely without permanent surfacing and varies greatly with the different counties. While cost of these roads varies in different sections of the country, indications are that the county and township officials want as much mileage surfaced as possible from the funds available at costs running from approximately $3,500 to $6,000 per mile. Intermediate types of surfacing would run upward to approximately $12,000 per mile with the higher type pavements costing upwards of $20,000 per mile. State Funds Available. Due to the fact that there has been little road building during the war, state highway construction funds have swelled into fantastic proportions despite the fact that revenues from automobile licenses and gasoline taxes have been reduced due to curtailment in auto travel. The Public Roads administration estimates that unexpended balances in state road funds by the end of this year will total around $418,000,-00- 0 To this will be added current receipts from levies upon the auto owner so that the PRA estimates the states will have approximately $475,000,000 to $500,000,000 available for new highway construction. If they match the authorized appropriation as set up in the new federal aid highway act their total must reach at least $500,000,000 annually Of the federal funds, $100,000,000 is already available for surveys, plans and construction, but the remainder of the program must wait until the first postwar fiscal year which ends June 30 following proclamation by the President of the end of the existing emergency, or resolution by the con gress that emergency has been suf ficiently eased to permit highway work It is pointed out that there have been federal aid appropriations for secondary and feeder roads in the past, but unfortunately there has never been full and complete advantage taken of the money appropriated, and, as a result, in a number of states the intent of the aphas not been fully propriation realized. For this reason, federal officials along with those interested in road construction, both public and in private industry, stress the importance of close cooperation between local and state officials in selecting a secondary road system which will qualify with the PRA, care being exercised not to include roads of minor importance. Some important features of the 1944 act include costs of rights-of-wa- y in construction costs provided the federal share shall not exceed 10 per cent of total authorization may be used unmatched by the states for elimination of hazards in highway - rail grade crossings with the government paying 90 per cent and the railroads 10 per cent of the cost; 1 per cent of the total authorization e may be used for highway plans. Federal Share. According to officials of the American Association of State Highway officials, the states feel that the federal government has an obligation in making these grants for use by the states in highway construction. They also feel that the federal government should pay a higher percentage of the costs than the "50-5- 0 basis which is now and has been in effect. Samuel C. Hadden of Indiana, president of the American association, pointed this out in his testimony before the house committee. He said that in 1942, for instance, the federal government collected taxes on motor vehicles and parts and on motor fuels in excess of $677,000,000, while in the same year it returned to the states m the form of federal highway aid less h than of that amount. "For some years, Mr. Hadden it has been the declared said, policy of the federal government that the state governments should not practice diversion of motor vehicle tax revenues from highway to other purposes. This disparity between precept and example has not escaped the attention of our citizens generally, or of our state and local public officials. Frankly, it is the belief of the great majority of our citizens that the federal government should take its own prescription in this matter, especially since the precept is considered sound and the example unsound. As a matter of fact, 14 states have within recent years amended their constitutions to prohibit diversion of taxes collected from gasoline and automobile bcenses to other than highway construction and maintenance. At any rate, if local and state officials cooperate properly there is a good chance that during the three years following the war several millions of our farmers will "get out of the mud" through the medium of the availability of these federal funds These farm roads are our "biead and butter roads; they carry our food to market; they carry the country children to school and back home again in the evening; they carry the mail to a third of our population; they carry this third to and from their churches, and they reach into remote corners. Landing Barges Used by Marines at Iwo Jima farm-to-mark- one-thir- Loaded with Leatherneck fighting men, scores of Amtracs churn the water into white foam as they speed to the beaches of Iwo Jima, the Japanese Gibraltar, only 750 miles from Tokyo. In left background are some of the ships of the big navy armada that covered the invasion. This photo is from a coast guard motion picture Sown to Washington. Americans Return From German Prison Camps Lt. Ross B. Lehman of Fottsville, Pa., left, was one of the American heroes who came back on the Swedish exchange liner Gripsholm recently. Center, wounded heroes, many with limbs gone, get their first view in many months of the New York City skyline. Lower right shows some of the repatriated American civilians, most of whom were women and children. The ship carried 1,209 repatriates, of whom 463 were sick and wounded American soldiers. Everybody Works at This House Husky Life Saver On the seventh deck of the U. S. eoast guards headquarters, Washington, D. C., Mr. and Mrs. Pigeon are keeping house. They built a nest in a wooden nut dish, atop a filing cabinet. When it is time for Mr. Pigeon to relieve his mate in the nest, he raps on the window until be gains admission, and after he gets settled his mate leaves for her rest period. Pfc. Matthew M. Boehm, Brooklyn, N. Y., attached to the 94tb medical air evacuation battalion, is a favorite with Dusky, who was flown from Iceland. Jim Crow Gets an Education Third Fleet Boss Jimmy, pet black crow of the children attending a public school at Sheraden, Pa., chuckles at his friends who have to sit inside in order to get an education. He secures his education by daily visits to the school window. He is permitted inside occasionally to fly around the room and visit with the students and the teacher. Adm. William F. Halsey Jr., clad a working uniform, on bis barge, which took him from flagship ( a Pacific base, for a conference on forthcoming operations. long-rang- one-fourt- in |
