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Show You Can Do Something About This! If the roads you drive cn are worn out, dangerous, and inadequate for today's traliic chances are it's partly jour fault. And you can do something about it. That was the opinion of most of the 4 i,000 Americans who submitted essays in the recent General Motors Eetter Highways Awards Contest. GM sponsored the contest to stimulate nationwide thinking and discussion discus-sion about the seriously deteriorating condition of our road system. Competing for a total of $194,000 in cash awards as well as a chance to do their bit for better roads contestants in every state cf the Union and the District of Columbia sent a board of judges their ideas on "How to Plan and Pay for the Safe and Adequate Highways We Need." The thousands of ideas submitted ranged all the way from putting a Secretary of Transportation into the President's Cabinet to requiring drivers to wear illuminated gloves for signaling turns in the dark. But most of the contestants agreed on these three points: 1. There is no quick and easy solution to the highway problem. 2. We need continued and intensified research into highway matters. 3. Most important of all, we'll never get better roads without public support. As Harlow H. Curtice, president of General Motors, has said: "Highways are built by public authorities. But it's a great deal easier for the public authorities to act in response to informed public support." The contest demonstrated that there are bound to be honest differences differ-ences of opinion as to how to plan and pay for better roads. Some contestants con-testants thought the federal government should have more power over our highway network; others feared any encroachment on prerogatives of the states. Some favored higher taxes; others said the necessary money would be available if we would end diversion to non-highway purposes of taxes collected from highway users. One contestant suggested sug-gested raising money for roads by putting the government into the toothpaste business. Differences can be resolved. The competition showed how deep and widespread is the concern over our highways. And in the opinion of the contestants themselves, it's up to all of us to translate that concern into better roads. |