Evening star., 1939-09-19

1VS1OH sVN NJ
Carmody in Forum
New Alignment Designed
To Coordinate Related
Federal Construction
John M. Carmody, administrator
of the Federal Works Agency, last
night delivered an address on "The
Unified Federal Works Program" in
the National Radio Forum, arranged
by The Star and broadcast over
Nationwide network of the Ma
tional Broadcasting Co. The text of
his address follows:
The President has said that the
creation of the Federal Works
Agency, along with other reorgani-
zation moves, has had only one
major purpose-to make democracy
work and to ensure the blessings
of free government to our people.
The five agencies that now operate
under the Federal Works Agency
have as their business the conduct
of various phases of comprehen-
sive program of public work. It
is the job of this new agency to
coordinate these work activities for
the sake of economy and efficiency
to tighten up procedures-to keep
these programs in step with each
other.
The activities of some of these
F. w. A. agencies have been widely
discussed during recent years. But
now that they have been combined
into single agency, it seems to me
to be in order to describe their
functions-to tell what they do and
how they do it.
Weather and roads have this
much m common-both are taken
for granted when they're good and
cussed out when they're bad. There
is difference, though-somebody
is doing something about roads all
the time. AS matter of fact, sew
eral Federal agencies have recently
been at work on our roads, but
they are the particular and con-
tlnuing responsibility of the Public
Roads Administration.
Highways Role in Emergency.
The Public Roads Administration
administers the funds provided by
Congress for Federal-aid highways.
These highways are part of the va
rious State road systems, and State
funds are provided to match Federal
funds in most of this work. Con-
gress appropriates highway aid
funds for tWo-year period, and
the States are able to plan the work
well in advance. State plans to be
financed with Federal funds must
be approved by Public Roads Ad-
ministration engineers. The effec-
tlveness of highways for use in ma
tlonal emergencies is one of the
considerations involved in approval
OF State plans. Local and regional
needs, and proper methods of con-
struction are also the subject of
continuous study by Public Roads
Administration engineers.
Research on highway construc-
ton has been carried on for many
years by the Public Roads Admin
istration, and it has now become
one OF the greatest clearing houses
in the world for information of
this kind. Its engineers make Pc
rlodic inspection of work done with
the aid of Federal funds, and 1t
must be kept up to standard or
Federal funds will be withheld
For the last several years the
Public Roads Administration has
been engaged in the work of elimi-
mating dangerous road crossings.
In this particular kind of work, the
States are not required to match
Federal funds, and since 1888 well
over 5000 dangerous grade cross
lngs have been eliminated Another
special task of the Public Roads
Administration is that of construct
ing roads in national forests, ma
tional parks and other Federal
areas. Much of the road work in
these public lands has been carried
out in recent years with the aid
of other agencies of the Federal
works program. In the Western
States these roads form important
links in State and transcontinental
routes. Between 5000 and 5000
miles of roads in national forests
and parks have been completed,
often leading through areas of nat
ural beauty or through scenes of
historical interest which bring in
creasing thousands of tourists each
year. Examples of this work in
the East are the completed portions
of the Blue Ridge Parkway in Vir-
ginia, roads at Yorktown and others
through several battleields of the
Civil War.
Rural Road Improvement.
The Public Roads Administration
will continue to have important re-
sponsibiities in planning and aiding
lllC uCSClOplllCllG VI Jul AOdI oy olCA1A.
In the actual construction of roads,
both the Public Works Administra-
ton and the Works Projects Ad-
ministration have recently made
huge strides. For example, the P.
w. A. is responsible for the $58,-
100000 toll highway under construc-
ton in Pennsylvania, for the coastal
highway in Oregon, for the toll
highway connecting Miami and Key
West in Florida and for the circum-
ferential highway now under con-
struction in New York City.
The Public Roads Administration
is now charged with carrying on
program for the improvement of
rural roads, secondary roads. farm
to-market roads. The great con-
tribution to work of this kind has
been made by the Works Projects
Administration, which in the last
four years has constructed or re-
paired a total of more than 100000
miles of rural roads, chiefly farm