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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (March 1, 1959)
They're Changing the Face of America CI .; '.$. C'JV1 -fag jLJUiAf- A fantastic network of superhighways will build up towns, decentralize cities, and help the whole country get better acquainted. by Howard Earle Across its entire length and breadth, the face of America is being changed to the tune of more than $51 billion! And it's happening in a way that will affect you, your family, and your community. Whether you live in a large city or small town, chances are you will awaken one morning to find your whole mode of living altered. To illustrate what's happening, one day recently I entered the Indiana Turnpike just outside Chicago, and 13 hours and no stoplights later I was in New York City. I had traveled across Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey without leaving a four-lane concrete highway with op posing traffic separated by a 10-foot parkway. Excellent restaurants and service stations were conveniently spaced along the way. From New York I sped along expressways of the same type, or improved, through the New England states to Maine. Last Summer I sat on the porch of a friend's home in upper New York State and listened to the roar of heavy road machinery and dynamit ing of rocks as workers cut the road bed of a new thruway diagonally across my friend's property. When finished, this superhighway will con nect the Canadian border with the New York State Thruway from New York City to Buffalo. Throughout the country similar networks of superhighways are lacing the landscape, making it easier and safer for motorists to reach distant destinations more quickly. Chicago currently is building a mammoth network of eight-lane expressways. One -will connect the Loop with a superhighway extending across Illinois to Iowa. Another will link the Loop to the Indiana Turn pike. A third will connect with a superhighway to Wisconsin. In Cincinnati, the eight-lane Mill creek Expressway is slicing through the city. In Maryland, engineers plan a new Baltimore-Washington route. Farther west, in Denver, Salt Lake City, and Los Angeles, as well as north and south of this line, new superhighways are under construc tion or plans have been approved. This nation-wide road-building ac tivity springs from a $51-billion superhighway project authorized by Congress in 1956. The chief feature of the program is a 41,000-mile net work of toll-free interstate high ways which will link 42 of the 49 state capitals and 90 percent of the cities with more than 50,000 popula tion. The Federal government is foot ing 90 percent of the cost of this project, and the states are furnishing the rest. Another chunk of that $51 billion will be spent on primary, secondary, and urban roads, financed by the Federal and state governments on a 50-50 basis. That same Federal kitty will finance new roads in our national forests and parks and on public lands. The new interstate superhighways will make the ancient Roman roads look like ribbons of dust. The toll free 41,000 miles of concrete will be free of stoplights and dangerous inter sections, with grade separations re placing crossroads. The new routes will have four or more traffic lanes, each at least 12 feet wide, and in non urban areas, median strips will sep arate opposing traffic lanes. The shoul ders along the roads will be about 10 feet wide, and access to the highways will be by modern cloverleafs. These highways will work vast changes in your life and that of your community. The overall effect will be revolutionary, thinks Gerald W. Col lins, manager of the transportation and communications department of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "There is hardly a city, village, or mile of highway that will not be in volved," Collins says. "Present traffic patterns will be altered; new areas will be opened for business; motor vehicle transportation in all forms will assume greater utility, conveni ence, and safety." Communities may find new indus tries springing up in their midst. Industrial and business expansion most likely will follow good highways for the transportation of their prod ucts. Those communities near the superhighways may find decentraliza tion of industry bringing new life to them through the construction of new plants, offices, and factories. Relocation of businesses to areas adjacent to the superhighways could mushroom communities where today there are only pastoral scenes. Sub urban America could easily take on a new look, with adverse effects on some existing communities. But many more communities will enjoy a popu lation and business increase through an influx of new residents. The superhighways are destined to ease or eliminate many commuting problems. It will be less of a problem to jump into the family car and drive 50 or 60 miles to work on these super highways than it is to drive 10 or 15 miles in congested city traffic today. The big-city dweller will find it easier to move to a small community along the new roads. The savings to motorists driving on the superhighways as compared with city streets or conventional roads is estimated at between three and five cents a mile. Much of the saving comes from the elimination of stop-and-start driving which consumes considerably more gasoline per mile. Straight-away driving also saves wear and tear on mechanical parts of the car affected by sudden stopping and starting. Many experts believe these ultra modern highways reduce traffic fatali ties because of the elimination of stop lights, crossroads, and other hazards found in city driving or on ordinary highways. Reduced accidents could mean a substantial savings on your automobile insurance if the reduction on a nation-wide basis is sufficient to lower policy premiums. Time saved on the superhighways is of inestimable value. The new roads will allow for speeds up to 70 miles an hour in flat country and 50 miles an hour in mountainous and urban areas. A survey in New England showed that on 150 miles of conventional highways, traveling through commu nities and cities, 305 stops were made. Traveling the same distance over much the same territory on a new superhighway, no stops were made. Time consumed in covering the dis tance on the conventional highway was slightly less than six hours as compared with three hours on the superhighway. Speed on the super highway averaged 50 miles an hour and on the conventional road 20 mph. Additional advantages of the super highways are tension-free driving and picturesque scenery. Many nerves are frayed by conventional highway driv ing. Tensions rise and some motorists border on nervous collapse by the end of a tedious trip on crowded roads with bumper-to-bumper driving amid shrieking horns and policemen's whis tles, screeching brakes, and the odor of burning rubber. And now modern high-speed, low slung cars, with their potential power that once was dangerous, will be es pecially adaptable to the superhigh ways. Forthcoming models may be developed to the degree that they will literally have all the comforts of home. But travel about the country will be one of the greater advantages of the superhighways. Where you want to spend your vacation will be deter mined by the time you want to spend in traveling. The new superhighways will bring almost any spot in the country close enough for a family vacation, provided you don't mind a few days' driving to reach the play land most appealing to you. Even the usual Saturday and Sun day week ends now can encompass the vacation spots you thought too distant before the advent of the superhigh way. Visiting friends two or three states away will be almost as simple as going across town for dinner. The new superhighways will change the face of the land in many, many ways. They also will change the living habits of the family. Stay-at-homes will become rare indeed in this age of travel across countries and continents. 14 Family WeMy, March 1, 1959
