Evening star., 1953-02-23
Driver Himself Seen
Key Man in Battle on
Road Deterioration
By Frederick c. Russell

Oy TISOSTtSN ~ NuSSStI
The motorist who is enjoying
himself whizzing over one Of the
nations newest Superhighways
has a hard time getting excited
over the fact that America is
in a traffic muddle of congestion
and deteriorated roads.
The overall picture is likely
to be missed in the delifium of
a comparatively few miles of
perfection, and it is his lack Of
interest which may be the big
geSt stumbling block to the Ma
tion's efforts to get itself out of
the jam.
Many Of the Nations leading
organizations are earnestly back
ing the current PAR movement.
so called because 1t stands for
Proect-Adequate Roads.
Publicity for the movement
has reached a new high. The
facts it bares are currently being
used as the topic of many a top
drawer speech, the basis for
many a moving magazine or
newspaper story.
But every one connected with
the program is worried about
that guy who is having such a
swell time rolling along the
latest Super-duper road.
They are worried because he
Is legion. Every time a new
road is opened up, he and mill
lion of others flock to the new
concrete like moths to a flame,
Blinded to Need.
It takes a lot of his time. It
blinds him to the need for taking
an active part in the crusade for
traffic freedom. He is the miss
ing cylinder in the motor that
can, and must, bring us out of
the present muddle.
Even if we admit that the
situation is serious, what can I
do about it?" the average mo-
torist may ask.
The Nations transportation,
highway and business leaders,
retort:
"The people once got them
selves out of the mud and they
can get us out of this muddle.
Individually there is much the
motorist can do"
Some Ways to Help.
I've been doing some check
ing, and here are some Of the
steps the guy on the superhigh-
way can do:
First Of all, he can join as
many as possible of the organi-
cations actively interested in the
movement. He can do this with
some of them as an individual
car owner, while others he can
join through his business or
profession.
His should not be an inactive
membership, but should involve
acceptance Of some responsible
1ty on committees working all
the way from the grass roots to
the national level.
Second, he can work through
his local community toward bet
ter traffic control, larger appro-
priations for street and highway
repair and greatly improved
parking facilities.
In one community worn streets
have been heavily punished by
excessive hunting" for parking
space when solving a simple per-
sonality problem with a property
owner could have resulted in his
opening up large area for off,
street parking.
Third, the average motorists
can do a real job on the problem
by doing his part toward reliev-
ing traffic congestion.
BY obtaining better routing
advice from his automobile club
he can make better use of Sec
ondary routes. While major
routes are being serviced there
will be marked advantage in
using some of the lesser Travelled
routes.
Highway Progress on Skids.
In spite of all the widely pub
1icized superhighway projects
highway progress in general has
been on the skidS. Now the time
has come for a reversal.
One Of the major difficulties
has been devaluation of the
currency. While highway expen-
ditureS for 1851 were close to
five billion dollars in 1851 they
bought less than the two and
one-half billion in 1941 dollars