Highway Facilities Research Articles

Policy Issues and Economic Effects of Public Aids to Domestic Transport

furnishes the basic ways (and terminals in some cases), while private carriers supply the equipment, organization, and working capital essential to carrier operations over public facilities. This mixed enterprise is characteristic of air, highway, and water transport, but not of pipeline and railway transport, fields in which private enterprise accepts the responsibility of providing both way and carrier facilities. As most countries operate their railways under public enterprise, this country's particular mix of private and public enterprise in transport is unique. As a broad generalization, one that subsequently must be qualified in important respects, it can be said that the American system of mixed enterprise in transport (with its relatively heavy emphasis on private enterprise) has worked tolerably well. It has produced a fully-developed, large-scale, multi-service, and essentially competitive transport system that appears the envy of most countries. However, Europeans often question whether automobiles and expressways can ever, by themselves, provide a solution for urban congestion, and observers from underdeveloped countries wonder how a country can afford the large amount of route and agency duplication involved in the American transport system. Nevertheless, the American policy of directly providing basic facilities, such as airways and inland waterways, and of financially aiding the states to furnish airport and highway facilities has not escaped severe and widespread internal criticism. Today, almost no one questions the desirability of public spending for the airways, airports, highways, and waterways. But increasingly the question has been raised whether it is economically desirable to furnish any of the carrier groups with the ways and terminals they require entirely free of charge, as in the case of inland waterways, or at user charges that may be inadequate to cover all relevant resource

Construction and Use of Models in Highway Planning

This paper covers the construction procedure and materials used in building scale models of projected highway interchange facilities and the use made of completed models in highway programming and planning.

Sugar Cane and Tobacco: A Comparison of Agricultural Types in the Highlands of Eastern Puerto Rico

T oHE highland region of eastern Puerto Rico has adapted the resources of its soil and climate to the production of two types of agricultural crops. First, there are products grown for export to obtain exchange for the purchase of commodities not produced on the island. Sugar, tobacco, and, to a much lesser degree, coffee fall into this category. These export crops yield a high monetary return per acre, a feature of the economy that is especially significant in a densely populated area where natural resources are scant. Second, products that yield a high return per acre in terms of food value are raised for consumption on the farm and for limited sale on the island. These crops are composed of a variety of vegetables and fruits which collectively are called frutos menores. They include corn, rice, beans, yautia (dasheen), plantains, sweet potatoes, yams, pigeonpeas, and cassava. This production gives rise to a twofold division of agricultural types: sugar cane farming on the one hand and tobacco-food-crop agriculture on the other. The distinction between the two is not always clear-cut. They have many characteristics in common, and often they are found side by side on the same farm. However, the distinction exists, and it is reflected in both the economic and social structure of the region. Cane agriculture is characterized by large farms occupying the best soils in the area, the level alluvial bottoms and the gentle slopes. (See Type Area, Fig. 2.) Tobacco and food crops are typically raised on small farms where slopes are steep and soils have a low fertility rating. Cane farms are never far from railroad or highway facilities, whereas tobacco and minor crops may be grown even in the most inaccessible crannies. Cane farms are seldom selfsufficient in labor requirements, and, especially during the cutting season, must procure a large labor force. Labor on tobacco and food farms is generally supplied by the farmer's family, extra help being hired only in the case of the larger farms. Sugar culture is characterized by single crop production while tobacco has multiple-crop production.1 Cane farming surpasses tobacco in the amount of capital invested, in the income from crops, and in progressive agricultural techniques. The sugar men as a class are wealthier, better educated, socially more prominent, and more disposed to try new methods than are the tobacco farmers. Sugar agriculture has fewer medianeros (share croppers) and more absentee ownership; it is more inclined to the patterns of tropical plantation

Express Highway Planning in Metropolitan Areas

Perhaps, the need for free-flowing highway facilities to relieve traffic congestion in cities is evident, but attention is focused on this need by the superior facilities available on arterial routes in rural areas as compared with those in urban areas. The factors that influence the locations of arterial routes in cities and their effect on the city plan are discussed. The need for obtaining factual data is emphasized and the pattern of arterial routes developed in representative cities is shown. Brief comment is included on the subjects of by-passes versus radial routes, the need for flexibility, the use of existing streets, and the terminal problem. Relative merits of different types of expressways are presented. The need for, and description of, preliminary engineering reports to unite the numerous interested agencies are detailed, and an economic analysis of each project is suggested.

Road Traffic in the United States

IN a recent radio talk given over the Columbia Broadcasting System, Prof. S. S. Steinberg, of Maryland University, discussed the highways of the United States. With more than 25 million motor vehicles, the business of highway transportation is one of the largest in the country. Last year, holiday motorists in the United States spent almost 600 million pounds. Highway facilities are still far from complete; only five per cent of the three million miles of rural roads are hard-surfaced, while only thirty per cent have received any kind of improvement. In many places, need for reconstruction is urgent, and the mileage of secondary light traffic roads required is very great The loss of life due to accidents is high, as almost a hundred persons are killed every twenty-four hours,, and last year one out of every hundred of the population was injured in a road accident, one of the gravest risks being the ‘railroad grade’ crossings, of which there are 240,000. About 1,500 persons are killed annually at these crossings; at least 30,000 such crossings are dangerous, and it will take many years before they can be made safe. Congress has provided sixty million pounds of emergency relief funds for this purpose, and the development of ‘farm to market’ roads will be a great boon to the country. The work will provide employment for many at present unemployed as the cost of constructing roads is mainly for labour. Mr. Robinson points out that the highways affect everyone vitally as they are the arteries which carry the life-blood of agriculture, commerce and industry, as well as bringing many social and educational amenities.

New Speed Laws for a New Era

Highway traffic in sections of the county, particularly the zone surrounding the city of Chicago, already exceeds the functional capacity of the improved routes in these sections; and the great increase in traffic that may be expected during the next five years indicates that unless a comprehensive betterment program is initiated and substantially completed within this period the county and the city of Chicago will suffer seriously from the lack of adequate highway facilities.