doing so , the legislators acknowledged that much of that spending had more to do with maintaining a relatively high rate of employment in the road-building industry than with the need for highways . Indeed , BPR officials frequently despaired over the selection of road projects , believing that many reflected political desires more than transportation needs .
In mid-1933 , Congress spurred further road construction by suspending the requirement for the states to supply matching funds , and by permitting them to use federal funds not only for roads that were part of the Federal-Aid network , but also for urban streets and other secondary and feeder roads . In mid-1934 , the Hayden-Cartwright Act called for the states to again begin appropriating matching funds . More importantly , it introduced the new concept of long-range planning to the nation ’ s road-building efforts by allocating a certain percentage of federal funds to be used by the states for “… surveys , plans and engineering investigations of projects for future construction .”
During the next few years , state highway departments joined the BPR and various universities in conducting the first comprehensive examination of the nation ’ s surface transportation needs . Many state officials did not need sophisticated strategic planning exercises to recognize the deficiencies of their local roads . They had already begun using their own funds to build controlled access highways that were elevated , recessed or otherwise designed to minimize urban congestion or facilitate a more pleasant commute from a suburb to a central city . Some highway chiefs became entranced by the elegantly designed and sleek-looking autobahns opened in Germany in 1935 . BPR Chief MacDonald believed relatively short super-highways such as these might be appropriate in specific locations to relieve traffic congestion or connect two metropolitan areas . But he resisted the idea that such roads could be useful , efficient and economically viable in every location .
As Governor of New York and President of the United States , Franklin D . Roosevelt was a champion of improved roadways . In 1937 , he showed MacDonald a map on which he had drawn the potential routes of three East-West coast-tocoast highways and three similar limited access North-South routes . The President asked the BPR to study the possibility of
President Franklin D . Roosevelt , 1940 .
building such motorways . Not wanting to cede the authority for such a monumental project , a congressional committee ordered the BPR to conduct a similar study . Both appeals focused on the potential for a system of nationwide toll roads , reflecting the fact that many states were considering such roads in those lean years of the depression .
In April 1939 , a BPR Task Force under the direction of the Chief of the Division of Information Herbert Fairbank published Toll Roads and Free Roads , a seminal analysis assessing the need for “… a system of interregional through highways … through and around cities … to meet the requirements of national defense and the needs of a growing peacetime traffic of longer range .” Fairbank was the BPR ’ s leading advocate of highway planning . He analyzed items such as highway departments ’ survey data , traffic projections , the geometries of roadways and the impact of heavy axles on road surfaces .
In Part I of Toll Roads , he specifically addressed FDR ’ s question about The Feasibility of a System of Transcontinental Toll Roads . His 88-page analysis concluded that there was not enough traffic flow on long-distance roads such as those mapped by the President to warrant the creation of coast-to-coast toll roads .
Instead of ending his report on this negative note , Fairbank used another 41 pages to describe what he believed was “ A Master Plan for Free Highway Development .” It mapped a 26,700-mile national network of non-toll highways , many of which were already part of the Federal-Aid system .
Library of Congress
Fairbank ’ s work described the way interregional highways should intersect with existing thoroughfares , either surround or crisscross large cities and bypass the smallest communities . Congress took no action on Fairbank ’ s suggestions and soon became distracted by the range of activities involved in the run-up to another global war .
In April 1941 , President Roosevelt indicated his continuing interest in a system of national highways by appointing a sevenman National Interregional Highway Committee and asking it to investigate the need for such a system . The exigencies of war delayed the work of the committee , but in January 1944 FDR transmitted to Congress the Report of the National Interregional Highway Committee , Outlining and Recommending a National System of Interregional Highways . That document recommended a 33,920-mile national system of interregional highways that its authors believed should be developed through the joint efforts of the federal government and the state highway departments . Its 184 pages used text , maps and tables to explain the rationale for selecting routes in both urban and rural areas . It also addressed topics such as the condition of existing roads , the acquisition of rights-of way , landscape design , road and structural design and the loading capabilities of highway bridges .
In February , even with World War II still raging , Congress began holding hearings on a bill to authorize this program . They crafted the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1944 , which President Roosevelt signed in December . Unlike earlier versions of a national network of roadways , this new system ( to be designated the National System of Interstate Highways ), was designed to serve both economic and social needs . Specifically , it :
• aimed at satisfying the needs of the nation ’ s agricultural , mineral , forest product , manufacturing and national defense sectors , as well as its population centers ;
• emphasized the inclusion of both rural and urban routes ;
• required the system ’ s designers to coordinate their efforts with leaders of other transportation modes ;
• centered on meeting interregional and national needs rather than local interests ; and
30 FINANCIAL HISTORY | Winter 2021 | www . MoAF . org