White House Press Release, Message from President Harry S. Truman to the United States Congress

1488 48 HOLD FOR RELEASE HOLD FOR RELEASE HOLD FOR RELEASE FEBRUARY 9, 1948 CONFIDENTIAL: To be held in STRICT CONFIDENCE and no portion, synopsis or intimation to be given out or published until the READING of the President's Message has begun in either the Senate or House of Representatives. Extreme care must there- fore be exercised to avoid premature publication. CHARLES G. ROSS Secretary to the President TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES: The roads of this country have been improved tremendously in the past thirty years. Over the years we have developed an increas- ingly efficient highway network. This has been made possible by active cooperation between the states and the Federal government. In this partnership the Federal government has contributed part of the funds, extensive technical assistance, and the means for unifying the state systems into a national network. The states and local subdivisions also have contributed funds, and have been primarily responsible for planning and actual construction. Working together, the Federal, State and local governments have developed the most efficient and extensive road system in the world. NARA Successive Congressional enactments were directed first toward improving rural roads and inter-city highways. More recently, a start has been made toward improving also the through highways in our cities. Today Federal aid is helping to develop an integrated traffic network to meet national, state and important local needs. It is necessary for the Congress to consider new highway legislation during the present session because the existing authoriza- tion will be substantially committed by December 31, 1948. Vhile construction under these commitments will be continuing for at least two years thereafter, it is necessary at this time to extend the authorization in order that the States may have adequate opportunity for the orderly development of further construction programs. In recent years, our highway construction has not kept pace with the growth in traffic. When the war came, we sharply curtailed the highway building program, limiting ourselves to a minimum program of repair and permitting improvement and new construction only where urgently necessary for war purposes. After the war ended, construc- tion was necessarily delayed still further as a result of shortages of material and high costs. On the other hand, the volume of business in the United States has grown more than 50 per cent since 1940. This is reflected in the fact that we are now using one-third more trucks which are carrying heavier loads and travelling more miles. There are also about one million more automobiles in use now than there were in 1941, despite the fact that the production of automobiles for civilian use was discontinued during the war. In all there are nearly three million more vehicles on the road than before the war. By any reasonable standard our highways are inadequate for today's demands. Future demands will inevitably be greater as business traffic continues to expand, as our population grows, and as we build roads to reach needed resources now relatively inaccessible. Further- more, we must reconstruct important stretches of road which were not built to carry heavy traffic safely and at reasonable speed. Modern automobiles, heavier trucks, greater pleasure and commercial travel all increase the need to improve our highways as a means of lowering the present shocking total of highway accidents. (OVER)