The existing traffic jam is bad enough, but prospects for the future are even worse. Vehicle registrations are expected to continue their upward surge, reaching 81 million by 1965, an increase of 40 percent. Total highway travel of these 81 mill ion vehicles will likewise continue to increase as we attempt to meet the transportation requirements of an expanding economy, probably to reach an estimated 814 billion vehicle-miles in 1965.
This Committee believes that these forecasts, carefully projected on the basis of all available data, are soundly conservative and represent the foundation upon which the Nation’s, highway improvement programs should be planned. Our population is expected to exceed 180 million by 1965. Our gross national product, which was about $357 billion in 1954, is estimated to reach $535 billion by 1965, an increase of almost 50 percent in the next decade, as recently reported by the Joint Congressional Committee on the Economic Report.
HIGHWAYS IN THE NATIONAL ECONOMY
The governors’ report to the President pointed up sharply the importance of highways to the Nation’s future economy in these words:
An adequate highway system is vital to the continued expansion of the economy. The projected figures for gross national product will not be realized if our highway plant continues to deteriorate. The relationship is, of course, reciprocal; an adequate highway network will facilitate the expansion of the economy which, in turn, will facilitate the raising of revenues to finance the construction of highways.
Prewar, we did not hesitate to spend on the improvement of ou highways sums ranging from 1.1 to 1.7 percent of our gross national, product. Today, the need for further improvement is greater than ever. The sums needed to accelerate the program may seem high; they are not high in terms of what we have done in the past in relationship to our much larger and still growing gross national product.
The increasing use of our highways contributes materially to the. growth of our national product, since industry and employment directly related to the highway transportation system and its byproducts account for about one-seventh of its total value,.
Moreover, the improvement of our highway systems as recommended herein would reduce transportation costs to the public through reductions in vehicle operating costs competently estimated to average as much as a penny a mile. Based on present rates of travel, this saving alone would support the total cost of the accelerated program. It is further evidence of the desirability of undertaking highway improvement as a capital investment.
