Evening star., 1952-09-26

tsibility for State-locaI highway
activities into a single staff unit
the head of which should report
directly to the top administrative
official of the commission.
3. The body responsible for road.
in each of the counties and cite.
should delegate adequate power,
of negotiation to the head Of thu
road or street unit. in order thai
he may deal effectively with State
and local officials.
Would Develop Standards.
4. Formalized construction ant
maintenance standards for loca
units should be developed through
cooperative effort. Also the State
should review its standards, par.
ticularly as to their application ir
those cases where they affect loca
areas.
5. A closer administrative con.
troll over the installation of traf.
fic-control devices by local author
tiles on State roads should b,
instituted.
6. The existing highway classi.
fication plan and the present sys.
TENS of State roads, county road
and city streets should be re-ex'
amined, the classification system
revised as necessary and legisla,
tion enacted directing this classi'
ication.
Asks Revised Statutes.
Z. Existing statutory provisionl
affecting highway relationship
should be revised. Insignificant
and obsolete provisions should b,
removed and general laws shoulc
be substituted for local and spe.
cial laws whenever feasible. Au.
thority and responsibility for tht
highway function at all levels ol
government should be clearly de.
fined and assigned.
3. In order to assure effective
llong-range planning and pro.
Igramming, legislation should bt
enacted authorizing and directing
the State Roads Commission, thu
counties and the cities, including
Baltimore, each to prepare a long.
range highway or street develop.
Iment plan.
8. Legislation should be enacted
permitting and encouraging state.
local and interlocal cooperative
relationships. and providing thu
principles and pattern for desir.
Iable relationships. Regardless o1
such legislation, however, thu
State Roads Commission and the
local units must begin to worh
lin unison. rather than independ.
emily, and with the Roads Com.
mission taking the lead.
Summarizes Legislation.
The report includes summary
Iof legislation affecting highway
relationships and concludes thai
only a few of the several hundred
statutes are Of major significance
1t notes that there are II
separate local laws governing tn,
qualifications of county boarc
directors, and that only three o1
these laws require graduate OF
registered engineers. The rest, thu
report adds, require only "suf.
ficient" knowledge and expert
ence.
These 16 local laws could bt
replaced by q single general Law
requiring that county road head.
be engineers or qualified by ex.
perience, and none Of the counties
would lose any of it's present pre-.
negatives" the commission added
Responsibilities Varied.
In recommending that the exist.
ing dual method of managing
county roads be continued, ths
commission said the point at issu,
is "the familiar one of centralized
versus local responsibilities"
In II counties-all of the East,
ern Shore except Dorchestel
County. and including thret
Southern Maryland counties
Charles, Calvert and st. Mary's-
the roads commission is author.
lied to perform the county road
work.
The States other IL countie,
have full responsibility for theil
own roads.
In recommending mandatory
legislation that would assure thu
development Of long range plan.
by the counties and the cities. tc
complement the plan for Stats
roads. the commission said:
The legislation, furthermore
should ID require the local units
to submit their plans to the State
Roads Commission for review as
/ to overall adequacy toward the
development of an integrated
highway network. ca authorize
the State Roads Commission te
effect the coordination Of the
work and co authorize and pro.
vide for complete cooperative