for this one superhighway project and possibly another $15,000,000 for the development of a system of freeway or parkway type of highways throughout the county.

Thank you, gentlemen.

Mr. WHITTINGTON. What is your bonded indebtedness in Illinois? Mr. LOCHNER. I believe it is 5 percent of the assessed valuation. Mr. WHITTINGTON. What is your bonded outstanding indebtedness in Illinois for highways?

Mr. LOCHNER. I cannot give you the exact figure, Mr. Whittington. It is not up to the limit.

Mr. WHITTINGTON. I would say according to the information furnished us, your entire State-Chicago and Cook County just owes $121,000,000.

Mr. LOCHNER. I don't know.

Mr. WHITTINGTON. You ought to have mighty good credit.

Mr. ANDERSEN. May I ask the witness a question?

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Andersen of Minnesota.

Mr. ANDERSEN. What did you say was the total revenue coming to your county over a period of 20 years?

Mr. LOCHNER. $100,000,000.

Mr. ANDERSEN. And you say if you utilized those revenues coming to the county that this one project would absorb the yield of 10 years?

Mr. LOCHNER. That is right. And it is estimated to cost $40,000,000.

Mr. ANDERSEN. Why could not the county allocate as security one quarter of its revenue for a 10-year period and over a 40-year period take care of the obligation for constructing such a superhighway? Can that not be done?

Mr. LOCHNER. Yes, sir.

Mr. ANDERSEN. To take care of that superhighway project.

Mr. LOCHNER. To build the one project.

Mr. ANDERSEN. What I am after is this: Why could not the county in some way secure authority to allocate one-quarter of its revenue each year for 40 years, which would be the same amount as 10 years' total income and construct this entire superhighway project in that manner without coming to the Federal Government for money?

Mr. LOCHNER. That is what we have attempted to do in the bond issue that Mr. Kingery called to your attention, which, unfortunately, we are not able to follow. What we need is to have a large amount of money to meet the right-of-way acquisition expense. When the courts give the awards piecemeal acquisition for a large project is not satisfactory.

The CHAIRMAN. We thank you very much, Mr. Lochner. I think the Illinois city officials have deported themselves very well and very favorably. Is there anything further?

Mr. WHITTINGTON. I want to ask Mr. Kingery one more question. As I understood you to say, in the report to which you have referred, you not only recommend planning for highway projects and through traffic highways like this, but you also have made recommendations with respect to the taxation that the Government might levy or the appropriations the Government might eliminate to bring the budget into balance.

Mr. KINGERY. I am sorry to say we have not included that recommendation.

Mr. WHITTINGTON. I thought you touched on that and I just wanted to get one or two or three suggestions-just the high points. Mr. KINGERY. I should like the privilege of sending you a copy of this

Mr. WHITTINGTON. No; for this record and with all due deference have you in that report made any recommendation looking to the Federal Government doing what the States and municipalities have done, to wit, balance its budget?

Mr. KINGERY. Yes, sir; we have, as to our State and municipal financing.

Mr. WHITTINGTON. What appropriations do you specifically recommend be eliminated and what taxes do you recommend be levied? Mr. KINGERY. We have made specific recommendations about expanding industrial activities in such a way as to bring about further ability to meet our Illinois problems. We have not made a recommendation

Mr. WHITTINGTON. That is more or less what I would call when I used to go to college "speculative and theoretical." What I am talking about is actual elimination of appropriations and revising taxation to bring the Federal budget into balance now.

Mr. KINGERY. Our State Planning Commission has not made recommendation as to the Federal budget. We made a recommendation with respect to its own State activities.

Mr. WHITTINGTON. I just wanted to see some State plan. I am for planning and State planning and every other sort of planning but I want to see a planning-board report that recommends something besides spending and borrowing.

Mr. KINGERY. We have done that with respect to Illinois.

Mr. WHITTINGTON. And I will give you an opportunity to add that to the record here. Now that means bringing the budget into balance. Don't you see otherwise it is nothing other than spending and lending.

The CHAIRMAN. Is that all?

Mr. WHITTINGTON. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. The committee thanks you, Mr. Lochner, for your appearance here and the information you have given us. ls there anything further?

Mr. LOCHNER. Mr. Philip Harrington, commissioner of the Department of Subways and Superhighways of Chicago, has prepared a statement and we request it be made a part of this record. The CHAIRMAN. Without objection, it is so ordered.

(The statement of Philip Harrington referred to by Mr. Lochner is as follows:)

STATEMENT OF PHILIP HARRINGTON, COMMISSIONER DEPARTMENT OF SUBWAYS AND SUPERHIGHWAYS, CHICAGO, ILL.

In 30 years the automobile has developed in Chicago from a rarity to a serious traffic problem. More than 500,000 automobiles, or almost half the total for the entire State, are registered here. In 1910, there were not that many in the entire Nation. The simple fact is that the automobile, collectively speaking, has outgrown Chicago's horse-and-buggy street pattern.

Four million people live and work in Chicago, and there is a high density of traffic resulting from their activities. Every week day there are large surges in traffic flow in the morning and evening when the city is going to and from work. Out-of-town traffic, from the suburbs and beyond, is delivered by wide State highways to many points at or near the city's boundaries. There it must flow into radial streets. Many of these are narrow and are lined with commercial

and industrial establishments.

Most of them serve as street car routes where

traffic creeps along behind the relatively immobile street car.

Long ago Chicago realized that it was faced with a serious problem in the rapid growth in the use of the automobile. In the last quarter of a century it has spent hundreds of millions in attempts to improve its street system to meet the everincreasing demands of the automobile.

Miles of streets have been paved; and where there were heavy concentrations of traffic through streets have been widened at grade, also traffic regulations have been vastly improved.

However, our through streets are still packed to the curbs. Average over-all' speeds between the downtown district and outlying points are below 20 miles per hour, in some cases as low as 12 to 15 miles per hour during the rush periods. Worse yet, the city's accident and fatality rate has been deplorably high. In 1939 there were 18,000 traffic accidents resulting in injury to 22,000 persons and death to 696. The thoroughfares that have been improved with widened roadways at street grade have had the highest death rates.

The outstanding exception to the foregoing statement is the splendid Outer Drive. This fine thoroughfare developed along the lake front by the Chicago Park District provides a real limited access highway from Foster Avenue on the north to Jackson Park on the south. The freedom of movement, high over-all speeds, and almost complete lack of traffic accidents give a definite picture of the great benefits which will result from building a comprehensive system of superhighways.

The term superhighway is hardly proper. It prompts a mental picture of something huge, something extraordinary. As a matter of fact, a superhighway is merely a limited access roadway, separated from the grade of intersecting streets by depression or elevation.

It is a limited way in the sense that its use is restricted to express vehicle traffic. Cross traffic, both vehicular and pedestrial, and all left-turn movements are completely eliminated. The roadway, generally speaking, is considerably wider than that of the conventional type of highway.

The superhighway should be an improvement and not a detriment to abutting property and the district it serves. In general it will be broad enough for landscaped parkways and can be keyed to the development of small parks and other city planning. It must also be wide enough to provide service drives for local traffic and sidewalks for pedestrians.

Chicago has talked superhighways for years just as it talked subways for years. We have gone beyond the talking stage on the subway. It is under way and construction is proceeding smoothly. Now we hope for action and accomplishment in the field of superhighways.

Mayor Kelly cut through the fog of superhighway discussion on March 1, 1939, by presenting to the city council a broadly outlined plan for early construction of a city-wide superhighway system. He was authorized to negotiate with other interested public agencies and the corporation counsel was instructed to prepare and present enabling legislation to the Illinois General Assembly.

On June 29, 1939, the General Assembly passed enabling legislation which provides for financing an immediate program out of future motor-fuel-tax revenues. The city and the county are permitted to contribute more than $30,000,000 each by pledging a portion of their shares of this revenue for the next 20 years. Cash is to be obtained for construction as needed through the sale of notes by the State.

While the amount of these notes, plus service charges, will be deducted from their gas-tax shares there still will be an estimated balance of $94,000,000 for the city and $80,000,000 for the county to spend on the improvement of other streets and highways during this 20-year period.

Recognizing its obligation to Chicago and Cook County from whose motorists it collects almost half of the motor-fuel-tax revenues, the State highway department has indicated that it will participate in the program on a pay-as-you-go basis.

While the legislature was considering the enabling legislation, a committee of engineers, appointed by the mayor, and working under Philip Harrington, commissioner of subways and superhighways, was making extensive studies and preparing physical plans.

On October 30, 1939, just 4 months after the superhighway legislation went into effect, an exhaustive report was presented to the mayor and the city council. It proposed a city-wide system of seven routes, totaling 62.5 miles to cost an estimated $205,000,000. Fundamentals in design were outlined as follows:

223985-40- --22

Depressed or elevated express roadways centered in broad landscape rightsof-way varying from 200 to 400 feet in width; eight-lane roadways with four 12foot lanes in each direction; wide center strips separating opposing streams of traffic; parallel driveways and walks to serve adjacent property; access at limited points through two-lane ramp connections.

Elimination of pedestrian traffic, no parking, no intermingling of express and local traffic, no left-turn movements, and no cross traffic.

The proposed initial construction, estimated to cost $110,000,000, includes the extension of the outer drive from Foster Avenue to Bryn Mawr Avenue, and from Jackson Park to the Indiana line.

Entirely new thoroughfares are proposed to the northwest, west, and southwest extending from the central business district to Higgins Road and Bryn Mawr Avenue on the northwest; to Austin Boulevard, the city limits, on the west; and to Garfield Boulevard on the south.

The second stage of the program consists of extensions to the routes in the initial system and, in addition, a north-and-south cross-town highway to articulate the system. Construction cost is estimated at $95,000,000.

Many benefits will flow to Chicago and the metropolitan area from the construction of this program.

The initial system alone will eliminate 2,700 traffic injuries and 80 fatilities a year. Motorists will save $16,000,000 a year in time and operating costs through removal of traffic hazards and causes of delay.

The pressure on other streets will be lessened. Express and through traffic will seek the smoother flow and swifter travel of the superhighways. Thus traffic congestion on through streets in local business centers will be largely eliminated. These local neighborhood business districts will benefit from the removal of through high-speed traffic which now interferes with the freedom of movement of persons who transact business there. Property values in the area served by the system will be enhanced. The blight now attacking Chicago at its heart will be checked and rehabilitation will be induced and fostered.

Combined in-bound and out-bound capacity of the initial system will approximate 60,000 vehicles per hour. Usage probably will reach a total of 250,000 vehicles daily. Yearly travel will total an estimated 600,000,000 vehicle-miles. Since the program was presented, the city, county, and State governments have been cooperating to transform it into a reality. Public hearings have been held by a special council committee headed by Alderman George D. Kells. City engineers have recently submitted a report to the committee on the comments and suggestions that were made at its six public hearings.

With the approval of the council and the mayor, specific locations of the several routes in the system are to be submitted to the State department of highways before March 1. The city has tentatively agreed to assume responsibility for constructing the west side superhighway while the county has taken the job of building the northwest route.

Last week the State supreme court held invalid the financing legislation passed in 1939. Thus the establishment of a Federal agency to assist in or be responsible for the acquisition of rights-of-way as proposed in the bill now under consideration becomes of vital importance to Chicago.

For instance, the west side superhighway, which is probably the most important single superhighway included in the entire program, is estimated to cost approximately $36,000,000. Of this total, about 50 percent, or about $18,000,000, represents a cost of acquiring the necessary right-of-way. So that if means could be provided for meeting this heavy right-of-way cost through the help of the Federal Government, the city could, with the help of the State highway department, complete this highly important improvement in 3 years, through the use of a portion of current motor-fuel tax revenues.

The entire comprehensive superhighway system involves an estimated total expenditure of $205,000,000. Of this total 35 percent or approximately $70,000,000, represents the cost of rights-of-way. Therefore, the enactment of legislation such as that now before your committee, would vastly simplify the problem of the local agencies in financing the remainder of this expenditure through the use of motor-fuel tax funds, the collection of tolls, or otherwise.

The CHAIRMAN. Is there anything further?

Gentlemen, if there is no objection we will adjourn now to meet again Monday at 10 o'clock.

(Whereupon, at 12 p. m., the hearing was adjourned until 10 a. m. Monday, March 4, 1940).

ASSISTANCE TO STATES IN THE IMPROVEMENT

OF HIGHWAYS

MONDAY, MARCH 4, 1940

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
COMMITTEE ON ROADS,
Washington, D. C.

The committee met at 10 a. m., Hon. Wilburn Cartwright (chairman) presiding.

The CHAIRMAN. The committee will please come to order.

Mr. Mott desires to ask Commissioner MacDonald some questions. Mr. MACDONALD. I would appreciate the opportunity of making a very short statement about title II.

Mr. MOTT. If Mr. MacDonald makes a further statement on title II, I shall want to inquire on that.

STATEMENT OF THOMAS H. MacDONALD, COMMISSIONER, PUBLIC ROADS ADMINISTRATION-Resumed

me.

Mr. MACDONALD. Mr. Whittington reserved some right to question But title II has been discussed by representatives that appeared before you and I feel that they have made the case with the committee that we have a problem to meet in the acquisition of rights-of-way in the metropolitan areas in order to develop connections for the highways into and through the thickly populated districts.

There are two other points involved in addition to the desirability of acquiring the rights-of-way for through highways in such areas. One is the need for acquirement of new rights-of-way for gradecrossing eliminations. In the early days the railroads were built into and through the cities and small towns. As the years went by the population grew up on each side rather closely contiguous to the railroad lines so that we have now the rather general condition throughout the country of the business of communities having to be transacted back and forth across the railroad lines. For cities and towns located between main terminal points, this situation is now aggravated by the arrangements the railroads are making to operate faster freight trains, because, in order to set up the desired schedules, they have to operate through the cities and towns at high speed. There is widespread opposition on the part of the municipalities affected, and in a good many cases local ordinances are being enacted. to limit the permissible speed. I think the committee will agree that this is not a satisfactory solution; but it is clear that some remedial action is required; and as it is obviously impossible to relocate the only alternative appears to be some change in the location or elevation of the tracks. The method that has been used in many cases is that