BUILDING ROADS.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20091, 21 November 1930, Page 5

BUILDING ROADS.

Ii.S.A.'S MISTAKES. LESSONS FOR THE WORLD. Admitting that in the building ot its highways system, America had mada many mistakes, the president of the American Automobile Ass ociatiou (Mr Ihoraas 1\ Hyniyj in his welcome to Ul ° delegates to the Sixth International H<>ad Congress, who were beiny entertained .it luncheon, at Washington, stated that many of the nations represented need not copy them, as tue greater portion of the highways programmes were ahead of them. ' I am cot qualified by training or experience to touch on tho technical problems ot road-building," fcaid > ir Henry. "But I would like to say this, in building £/00,000 milos of improved highways, we have mad© mistakes. Many of the nations you represent can ovoid these, since th<i major part of your programmes aro in the tuture. "Wo built many of our highways too narrow for tho load they were called on to carry. and in doing so, we increased our costs at a later day and rendered mfiro difficult of solution our great problem of safety. 'ln m;my instances, we built piecemeal instead of building on a co-ordin-ated and unified plan. This, you can avoid by building with a view not to tho requirements of to-day, but to lli3 requirements of the years to come. "W© learned too late that art and beauty have a place in our highway scheme—and that the landscape, architect should work hand in hand with the highway engineer. "We v.-ere also too late in learning that highways created enormous new values, which in turn, were Intcnss!,? commercialised, and affected both the saffctv and the lieauty of the road. Wise foresight will enable you to avoid the creation of such problems."