The "Tombstone"

MARCH, 1927 ARIZONA HIGHWAYS Page Eleven

Correct their laws. There ought to be no further delay. I am sure that the members of this organization from the arfected States will join with me in the hope that the necessary laws and constitutional amendments will be provided before Congress shall again have this legislation before it for further action. It is manifestly unfair to the counties themselves to expect them to participate in the cost of improving the main lines of traffic. To do so places a burden upon them which they should not be expected to bear. The improvement and upkeep of the roads tributary to the main systems are of the highest importance to agriculture and the county and local funds must be preserved for this purpose. The traffic on the State roads is a wide-ranging traffic. The greater part of it originates and is destined to the cities, and any system which causes the rural communities to contribute to the expense of improvement in greater proportion than the benefits they derive is unfair and ought to be remedied.

Looking to the future also there must be a still greater improvement in the maintenance of all roads and especially of the Federal-aid roads, an obligation which the Federal law places upon the State highway departments. While unquestionably there has been great improvement in this respect during the last decade, the failure to make proper provision for the repair of roads upon which large sums of public money have been invested is the sheerest of economic folly. Unless there is positive assurance that means will be available for the constant and continuous care of the roads after they are improved, I am convinced that it would be better not to improve them at all. It has not often been necessary to enforce the provisions of the Federal highway act in respect to non-performance of the necessary maintenance work on Federal-aid projects. With few exceptions the obligation of the States has been carried out. There are a few -no more than can be counted upon the fingers of one hand-upon whom it has been necessary to call repeatedly for essential work to save the Federalaid roads from deterioration. The Department has been patient in dealing with such cases and our requests have always been met with a response, but maintenance that is delayed until the deterioration has advanced to the point where it becomes necessary to direct attention to it, is not the right kind. While the States in accepting the Federal appropriations accepted also the obligation of keeping the roads in proper repair, the deeper obligation is that of rendering the best possible service to the public and of protecting public investment. Neither the public nor the legal oblization can be satisfied by a perfunctory highway maintenance policy. The Department has endeavored to deal in a straight-forward way with its duty to enforce the law in this respect. There has been no tendency to pick flaws of a minor character or to look with unsympathetic eyes upon the efforts of the States. It is not a pleasant duty to serve a formal notice required under the law upon any State, and it is still less pleasavailable for the constant and continuous care of the roads after they are improved, I am convinced that it would be better not to improve them at all. It has not often been necessary to enforce the provisions of the Federal highway act in respect to non-performance of the necessary maintenance work on Federal-aid projects. With few exceptions the obligation of the States has been carried out. There are a few -no more than can be counted upon the fingers of one hand-upon whom it has been necessary to call repeatedly for essential work to save the Federalaid roads from deterioration. The Department has been patient in dealing with such cases and our requests have always been met with a response, but maintenance that is delayed until the deterioration has advanced to the point where it becomes necessary to direct attention to it, is not the right kind. While the States in accepting the Federal appropriations accepted also the obligation of keeping the roads in proper repair, the deeper obligation is that of rendering the best possible service to the public and of protecting public investment. Neither the public nor the legal oblization can be satisfied by a perfunctory highway maintenance policy. The Department has endeavored to deal in a straight-forward way with its duty to enforce the law in this respect. There has been no tendency to pick flaws of a minor character or to look with unsympathetic eyes upon the efforts of the States. It is not a pleasant duty to serve a formal notice required under the law upon any State, and it is still less pleasant to withdraw Federal participation. The Department believes, however, that its first duty is to insure proper maintenance of the roads constructed with Federal funds, and this viewpoint I am sure will have the unanimous support of this Association. There are a rew States in which there have been too frequently reports of projects in an unsatisfactory state of maintenance, and may I take this opportunity to urge very seriously upon these States, which can not themselves be satisfied with such conditions, their immediate correction. The Department wishes to make clear its position that the duty to maintain roads already constructed is paramount.

With each year's progress now it becomes easier to see the working out of one of the primary conceptions of the Federal-aid road legislation as expressed in the requirement to expedite the completion of an adequate system of highways interstate in character. It was foreseen that the fulfillment of this purpose would come through a linking up of sections of main highways as they are developed State by State, and up to this time the programs within the States have in general been in harmony with the expected progress in the direction of through routes.

DEFINITE POSITION TAKEN

In some cases the Department has taken definite positions with reference to specific projects to provide missing links, usually in the way of bridges at State boundaries, but now with the major routes of the country so clearly defined by the action of the States (Continued on page 21)