Evening star., 1950-02-19
Program in Maryland
Aims al RegainingL Los
Highway Leadership
By Robert M. ReindoIIor
chairman, Maryland State Roads
Commission.


By Robert N. ReindoIIor
Chairman, Maryland state Roads
Commission.
By the end of 1850 Maryland
will have spent on It's State roads
system within the space of four
years more than half as much as
the accumulated investment in
that road system over the past
40 years.
Records of the State Roads
Commission since its inception in
1908 show that in 1946 the State
road system comprised approx
mately 4,500 miles and represented
a capital investment Of 1925 mil
lion.
The same records show that
from January /. 1947. to Janu-
airy /, 1850, the commission has
undertaken or completed projects
totaling $111,971,809 in dollar
value and covering 844 miles of
new or improved roads. To this
should be added approximately
$42 million, this figure being the
current estimate for the 1850 pro-
gram, details of which will be an
nounced in the near future.
The road-building program in
which Maryland is currently en-
gagged contemplates the expendi-
ture of approximately 5000 mil
lions over a five-year period, of
which 1850 will be the third year
of full-scale production. Present
indications are that when this
f1ve-year program Is completed,
while there will have been notice
sble improvement in the high
ways in every section Of the State,
complete rehabilitation of the pri-
mary road system will only be
one-third accomplished.
Need Additional S4oo Million.
In other words, to build Mary
lands $500 miles OF primary roads
UP to meet modern design stand
ards and to put them in condition
to serve adequately for the next
quarter-century will require, in
addition to what is already COM
mitted. upward of $4O0 million.
1t is interesting to note that
for many years Maryland enjoyed
the reputation of being the best
roaded" State in the Nation. The
period that it excelled in this re-
spect covered the decades preced-
ing and following World War I.
1t was this very excellence, in
fact, that later worked to Mary
lands disadvantage. Having been
a pioneer. its roads had been
constructed before automotive
transportation became q prime
factor. For some years Maryland
was able to meet the demands
imposed by the rapid growth of
the automobile by wideneing exist
ing road surfaces to provide for
increase in speed and volume of
traffic.
In doing so. however, the State,
while preserving its initial invest
ment in the existing roads, per-
petuated bad alignment and
grades and most of the improve
ments made at that time are now
obsolete when considered by to-
days design standards.
Profited by Maryland Errors.
Meanwhile. other States, for
tunate enough to profit by Mary
lands experience, were building
newer, better roads designed to
meet the needs of the automo-
bile age. Thus Maryland's su-
premacy soon was challenged
from many sides, during the mid
die '20s, it lost its leadership and.
in fact, slipped far down the
list.
There can be no question that.
If allowed to continue for another
decade at its present pace, Mary
lands highway program will re-
turn the State to the position of
leadership it held. then lost.
At the present time six sections
OF highway of a type new to
Maryland are now under con-
struction. The first of them will
not be in use before next fall.
This will be the Baltimore
Washington expressway, which
should be opened to travel be-
tween Baltimore City and the
Friendship International Airport
by late September.
The other five roads to which
I refer are the Baltimore Harris
burg expressway, the Baltimore
national pike between Baltimore
and Frederick, the Washington
national pike between Frederick
and Washington, the Annapolis
Washington expressway, which in
IT'S first stage will extend west
ward only as far as the Grain
highway, and the expressway
from the eastern end of the
Chesapeake Bay Bridge as far as
Queenstown.
All are being built as divided
highways with access limited to
carefully chosen points where
elaborate interchanges will elimi-
nate hazards from cars entering
or leaving the highway. When
completed, they will unquestion-
ably be among the finest roads
in the country.
Aa~hnnie La C1,,e