Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-01-18
URGES FOLLOWING
OF GUIDE POSTS
Highway President Says
Keep Road Dollar Where
1t Belongs.

A. a State Legislatures tn regular
and special sessions begin grinding out
new laws with the incoming Of the
new year, 1t Is not surprising TO learn
that the financing and ADMINISTERS alton
Of public highways will again occupy
commanding position on legislative
dockets.
It Is the hope, according to H. H.
Blood, president of the American AS
ISOLATION Of State Highway Oflcials.
that the legislative guide posts which
have been set up for the further adj
vancement Of the highway cause, will
be followed as closely as possible in
the various States.
"The first and most important Of
these guide posts" said Mr.. Blood, "is
to keep the road dollar where 1t be-
longs. BY this we mean that no ma
terial change In the policy Of giving
preference to main route construction
should be made until State systems are
much further advanced toward COM
pletion than they are at the present
time.
Proper Bearings Needed.
"As new legislation Is being under
taken to at new needs in the enlarge
n1ent Of the countrys bodybuilding
forces" said Mr.. Blood, ut will not be
amiss to again get our proper bearings
as we enter upon the new period.
building roads where traf1c Is heaviest.
We did that because heavy trafnc en-
tails heavy repairs where road surfaces
are not built right at the start, and
excessive repair costs cannot be held
In check except by sticking to the main
trafnc section of the job until 1t Is
safely on toward final completion.
while we have been building as
well as we could IN the light Of GU
engineering experience, we have not
been building as well as needs demand.
Unless we are not careful, even more
so than we have been in the past. we
shall md ourselves Swannped with an
amazing mileage Of so-called modern
highways going into destruction before
they have had time to repay their
original cost. This danger Is already
imminent In far too many localities,
and because OF this fact highway Of
f1cialS In the performance of their
duties as public servants have come
again TO q definite recommendation,
arising out Of their experiences, that
State and Federal funds available for
new highway construction shall be de-
are OF greatest importance to q vast
majority Of the travelling public. All
State legislative action, therefore, which
seeks to draw the road dollar to where
1t does not logically belong, at this
time, Is frankly not for the best In
terests OF the taxpaying and road
using public.
Understanding Lacking.
AZ -
the part OF the public Of the basic
principles upon which road building il
going forward In the United States
continues to be one Of our greatest
drawbacks. II we could proceed as we
should, with the cumulative experiences
Of the past 10 or IS years, unhindered
by the recurrence Of discarded theories
all would be well, but, unfortunately
with each new turn Of the legislative
wheel there come old ideas, presented
as new, which have long since beer
tested In actual practice and found
wanting. And one of the most per-
sistent Of these oft-recurring and as
oft-discarded ideas is that 1t Is all
right to shovel dirt anywhere Just sc
long as We are shoveling. But it isn't
Reverting again to the legislative
phases Of road building in the new
decade now opening, Mr.. Blood con-
| Guided:
The final and complete solution OF
questions Of highway finance and ad.
ministration is perhaps never to be
achieved, for with each new advance
in highway use. there comes at inter
walls the necessity for enlarged admin
istrative and financial powers. To this
point we have again arrived. In fact
road building has developed into a con.
tinuing enterprise and 1t Is just as es-
sential to recast our financial and ad.
miniStrative programs as the work pro-
ceeds as it Is for our engineers to keer
step with the latest developments II
the science Of highway construction
But in the recaSting we should take ex-
IRENE care not to depart from the
course which has justified the large
| appropriations that have been made
for highway development"