1938: Roads

Changed Traffic Conditions.

Automobiles, buses, and trucks have changed the design and construction of roads in the past few years. Speeds of 60 and 65 miles an hour are now common, while in sparsely populated areas 100 miles are allowed in some states. Money for building has been obtained from Federal grants, local assessments, and state taxes on gasoline.

Planning and Building.

In the planning and laying out of highways for fast through-traffic, several matters have to be considered. Frequently, along a route as planned, there are property owners who strongly object to having their land taken, or insist on putting up overhanging and unsightly signs. Roads should be laid out so through-traffic will avoid thickly populated centers, and this has been done in many communities by building 'freeways,' or through highways. These consist of a through road, which, where it intersects with another, may be a clover leaf, circle, or other design allowing rotary direction. The property owners along these freeways may have no direct access, nor the right of air and light.

To meet the present heavy traffic, road materials have been given careful consideration. Local traffic and climatic conditions have to be thought of, as also the utilization, so far as possible, of materials locally available. The past year has seen design changes for wider traffic lanes, longer curves, and greater sight vision both ahead and on the sides. Four-lane and six-lane roads frequently have traffic in opposite directions separated by grass plots or barriers.

The soil on which roads are built has been given much study. Depending on conditions, roads may be of Portland cement, asphalt-concrete, brick or local crushed rock or gravel treated with a bituminous oil. Various forms of steel reinforcing have been placed in concrete, and tests have been made on cotton fabric as a reinforcement for thin bituminous layers. To make night driving safer on country roads, steel markers 4½ ft. high and studded with reflectors have been installed. Besides the furnishing of road materials, the manufacture of graders, trucks, concrete mixers, and road-building equipment has become a large and growing industry.

Notable Highways Undertaken or Completed.

While European countries have been active in improving their highways for moving troops in time of war, in America roads have been built largely for pleasure and business purposes, and for transporting goods by trucks. There have been roads worked on that are noted for their scenic beauty, as those through national parks in the West; and, in the East, the skyline Drive of Shenandoah National Park, and New York City's Hudson River Parkway now open from lower Manhattan to Yonkers.

Among the interesting highways under construction is the Overseas Highway, being built by the Overseas Highway & Toll Bridge District, an agency acting for the State of Florida. The 20-foot roadway, which is hard-surfaced, is on the inoperative Florida East Coast Railway right of way, and connects Key West with the mainland.

The first section, from Port Chester to Norwalk, of a high-speed road across the State of Connecticut was opened on June 30, 1938. The section is about 16 miles long, took four years to build, and cost around $20,000,000.

The Reconstruction Finance Corporation and Public Works Administration arranged to finance the building of a four-lane super-highway from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh, Pa., a distance of 162 miles. Work was started in the summer of 1938, but the highway will not be completed for some years.

Mexico was hoping to complete in 1938 a highway from Mexico City to Nogales, Ariz., via Gaudalajara, a distance of 1,533 miles. The extension of the Pan American highway from Mexico City to Suchiate, Guatemala, a distance of about 900 miles, was also worked on.

In South America many important highways were worked on. Of these is one through the Territory of Misiones, Argentina, to Iguassu Falls, one of the largest waterfalls in the world. Columbia is working on a highway connecting Bogotá with the Caribbean Sea, while in Chile and Venezuela several roads are under construction. In December 1938, the President of Peru announced the opening of a highway from Lima to Pucalpa, thus making possible shipments from Lima to the Ucayali River, a navigable tributary of the Amazon.