Abstract
The present-day highway problem is made up of many elements, namely, cost of construction, ability of highway users to pay for highways as they are built or during their life expectancy, the kind of taxes providing revenue to pay for highways, types of roads required, competition between transportation systems, and kindred matters. No single solution exists for all of these. The author analyzes comprehensively each of the elements of this nation-wide problem and suggests practical approaches to their solution. Of all the factors making up this problem that of cost is probably dominant. How the costs are to be met is the crux of the situation as it now stands, with the ever-expanding highway needs pressing for action. It is the author’s view that a recent report of the Federal Works Agency, Public Roads Administration on the general question of “Toll Roads and Free Roads” offers the soundest long-range plan for national highway development yet advanced. A comprehensive analysis of this report has been included and appears as an Appendix to the paper.
