A carefully considered plan was submitted to President Eisenhower on December 3, 1954, by Governor Kennon, of Louisiana, chairman of the governors’ conference. The Committee has drawn heavily upon this report by the governors, and upon their wise counsel, in the formulation of the program recommended herein.
The Committee has also drawn on the abundance of information and experience of the Federal Government departments and agencies and from private associations, organizations, State, city, and other units of government and individuals without whose help the Committee could not have accomplished its work.
Likewise, the Committee has sought out and been benefited by, the able advice and counsel of members of the congressional committees and their staffs who have long been associated with legislation designed to provide a highway program adequate for our Nation’s needs. Grateful acknowledgment must be made to these and others who have so capably and unselfishly aided the Committee’s work.
II. The Highway System
USE OF OUR HIGHWAYS
Highway transportation in the United States is provided currently by approximately 48 million passenger cars, 10 million trucks, and a quarter of a million buses, operating on 3,348,000 miles of roads and streets, which is by far the most comprehensive public transportation network in the world.
All forms of transportation are essential to the national economy, including waterways, railroads, airways, and pipelines and their continued functioning as complementary services under equitable competitive conditions is important. Representatives of the railroads have pointed out to us the competitive threat represented by improved highway facilities and increasing truck haulage. However, this Committee was created to consider the highway network, and other media of transportation do not fall within its province. This relationship between the several forms of transportation is under study by other Government agencies and special committees fully informed of these views.
In relatively recent years, the motor vehicle has come to occupy a unique place in America, not only because it is a major unit of transportation, but also because it is an intimate and seemingly indispensable part of our daily life. The bread winner uses an automobile to get to work; the housewife to shop; children ride in a car or bus to school, and the entire family relies on the automobile for many social and recreational activities. Privately owned passenger cars now in service could transport the entire population of the Nation at one time with seats to spare.
The universal use of rubber-tired vehicles for transportation on a family-unit basis has resulted in the creation of large manufacturing, distributing and service industries. Highway transportation provides essential movement of people and goods; in addition, it has itself become a major element of the economy, generating directly or indirectly approximately one-seventh of all gainful employment, and accounting for about 14 percent of the total gross national product.
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