Okla-homey
7/11/2007, 06:06 AM
July 11, 1916: Uncle Sam to help states build roads and bridges
91 years ago today, in a White House ceremony, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Aid Road Act, the first grant-in-aid enacted by Congress to help states build roads.
"The approval of the good roads bill by the President yesterday marks the beginning of a new era of domestic development in the United States, the beneficial effects of which will be felt by every citizen of the country. [It] is impossible to estimate the indirect benefits conferred through facility of intercourse, increase of trade, development of now inaccessible lands, transfer of urban population to country, growth of local centers, etc . The sum of profit, comfort and happiness created by road improvement, while already incalculable, is small compared with the results that will be achieved during the next five years."
Editorial, The New York Times
July 12, 1916
http://aycu22.webshots.com/image/21741/2005254578481091766_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005254578481091766)
Woodrow Wilson
In 1916, roads throughout America were generally pretty crappy and most were susceptible to weather. The advent of the Ford Model T brought on new interests in higher standards for roads, and by the early 1900s, motorist clubs like the American Automobile Association(AAA) had rallied around the call for federally funded long-distance highways.
http://aycu16.webshots.com/image/21015/2005226075644360142_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005226075644360142)
Even up to the middle of this century, many roads in the United States were unpaved, and after a good rain they were a virtual quagmire.
Farmers balked at the idea, arguing that paying taxes so city slickers could tool around in their new-fangled automobiles was unfair. As motorized vehicles and farm machinery became more important to farmers, however, the ground became fertile for legislation to raise the quality of roads across the country.
"The degree of a country's civilization may, in a measure, be gauged by its highways."
U.S. Rep. Dorsey W. Shackleford
Sept. 29, 1913
In 1907, the legal issue of the federal government's role in road-building was settled in the Supreme Court case Wilson vs. Shaw. Justice David Brewer wrote that the federal government could "construct interstate highways" because of their constitutional power to regulate interstate commerce.
By 1912, bills concerning federal funding of the highways were considered on the House floor, although a split in constituencies had divided the advocates. Farmers wanted sturdy, all-weather postal and farm-to-market roads, and urban motorists wanted paved long-distance highways.
Many state officials feared that any federal-funding package would only be used as a means to interfere with the operations of the state -- they were partially correct as you'll see below. In the end, a bill was passed that included the stipulation that all states have a highway agency staffed by professional engineers who would administer the federal funds as they saw fit.
The bill on offer leaned in the favor of the rural populations by focusing on rural postal and farm-to-market (FM) roads rather than interstate highways. The cause of interstate highways would not be addressed until many years later during President Dwight D. Eisenhower's administration, but the "Federal Aid Road Act" was the cornerstone for today's highway system and the precedent for all federal highway legislation to come.
http://aycu04.webshots.com/image/22323/2005246030108518456_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005246030108518456)
I have no idea how Puerto Rico, Alaska and Hawaii rate "interstate highways," but they have some
The rural road improvement that happened as a result of the act helped rural Americans participate more efficiently in the national economy. As mentioned in the preceding paragraph, it had one other, perhaps unintended effect; Congress can (and does) condition release of federal highway dollars to states on specific terms. IOW, Congress probably lacks the constitutional authority to set a national speed limit, or to set the national drinking age, etc.
http://aycu21.webshots.com/image/19500/2005272244293889730_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005272244293889730)
As you can see from this DOT graph, the federal money set aside for highways is a sizeable chunk of change and has grown fairly steadily since the middle of the 20th century. States will jump thru all sorts of federal hoops to get their share.
With passage of the highway act way back on this day in 1916, Congress could now use the highway money as a cudgel to force states to comply with federal guidelines on a range of issues from speed limits to drinking laws, and even mandatory seatbelt usage. States do not have to comply with the congressionally mandated standards, if they don't mind losing their federal highway bucks. To date, no state has bucked Congress or even the DOT on any condition they place on receipt of the federal highway money...thus, the federal gubmint expanded its power by doing with dollars what it could not require otherwise.
http://aycu04.webshots.com/image/22323/2005287509494085994_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005287509494085994)
Here in Oklahoma
The Sooner State's first highway commissioner Sidney Suggs (a newspaper publisher from your correspondent's hometown of Ardmore) laid out a plan for major highways across the state in January 1913, all of which would be developed in time with the newly available federal money.
http://aycu30.webshots.com/image/19909/2004704717785541352_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004704717785541352)
Main Line No. 1--State line north of Newkirk through Ponca City, Perry, Guthrie, Oklahoma City, Norman, Purcell, Pauls Valley, Sulphur, Ardmore and Marietta to a point on the Red River north of Gainsville, with additional lines from Sulphur through Mill Creek, Belton and Mil-burn, intersecting Main Line No. 5 at Durant.
Main Line No. 2--Extending East and West across the state through Muskogee, Okmulgee, Okemah, Oklahoma City, El Reno, Geary, Weatherford to Texas state line.
Main Line No. 3--Chisholm Trail, from Caldwell, Kansas, through Medford, Enid, Kingfisher, El Reno, Chicasha, Duncan, Waurika to Red River.
Main Line No. 4--Mid-Continent Highway from Caney, Kansas, through Bartlesville, Tulsa, Sapulpa, Okmulgee, Holdenvill, Calvin, and Coalgate to Atoka.
Main Line No. 5--From state line north of Miami through Vinita, Pryor, Wagoner, Muskogee, Checotah, Eufaula, McAlerter, Atoka and Durant to the Red River north of Denison.
Main Line No. 6--From Kansas state line through Beaver, Buffalo, Woodward, Taloga, Arapahoe, Clinton, Cordell, Hobart, Synder, Frederick and Grandfield to the Red River bridge north of Wichita Falls.
http://aycu07.webshots.com/image/20326/2005220691515043109_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005220691515043109)
The Newcastle Bridge, Oklahoma's first federal highway aid project, was opened in 1923. It still stands along I-44 in the OKC metro.
http://aycu18.webshots.com/image/20417/2005206606202427556_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005206606202427556)
91 years ago today, in a White House ceremony, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Aid Road Act, the first grant-in-aid enacted by Congress to help states build roads.
"The approval of the good roads bill by the President yesterday marks the beginning of a new era of domestic development in the United States, the beneficial effects of which will be felt by every citizen of the country. [It] is impossible to estimate the indirect benefits conferred through facility of intercourse, increase of trade, development of now inaccessible lands, transfer of urban population to country, growth of local centers, etc . The sum of profit, comfort and happiness created by road improvement, while already incalculable, is small compared with the results that will be achieved during the next five years."
Editorial, The New York Times
July 12, 1916
http://aycu22.webshots.com/image/21741/2005254578481091766_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005254578481091766)
Woodrow Wilson
In 1916, roads throughout America were generally pretty crappy and most were susceptible to weather. The advent of the Ford Model T brought on new interests in higher standards for roads, and by the early 1900s, motorist clubs like the American Automobile Association(AAA) had rallied around the call for federally funded long-distance highways.
http://aycu16.webshots.com/image/21015/2005226075644360142_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005226075644360142)
Even up to the middle of this century, many roads in the United States were unpaved, and after a good rain they were a virtual quagmire.
Farmers balked at the idea, arguing that paying taxes so city slickers could tool around in their new-fangled automobiles was unfair. As motorized vehicles and farm machinery became more important to farmers, however, the ground became fertile for legislation to raise the quality of roads across the country.
"The degree of a country's civilization may, in a measure, be gauged by its highways."
U.S. Rep. Dorsey W. Shackleford
Sept. 29, 1913
In 1907, the legal issue of the federal government's role in road-building was settled in the Supreme Court case Wilson vs. Shaw. Justice David Brewer wrote that the federal government could "construct interstate highways" because of their constitutional power to regulate interstate commerce.
By 1912, bills concerning federal funding of the highways were considered on the House floor, although a split in constituencies had divided the advocates. Farmers wanted sturdy, all-weather postal and farm-to-market roads, and urban motorists wanted paved long-distance highways.
Many state officials feared that any federal-funding package would only be used as a means to interfere with the operations of the state -- they were partially correct as you'll see below. In the end, a bill was passed that included the stipulation that all states have a highway agency staffed by professional engineers who would administer the federal funds as they saw fit.
The bill on offer leaned in the favor of the rural populations by focusing on rural postal and farm-to-market (FM) roads rather than interstate highways. The cause of interstate highways would not be addressed until many years later during President Dwight D. Eisenhower's administration, but the "Federal Aid Road Act" was the cornerstone for today's highway system and the precedent for all federal highway legislation to come.
http://aycu04.webshots.com/image/22323/2005246030108518456_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005246030108518456)
I have no idea how Puerto Rico, Alaska and Hawaii rate "interstate highways," but they have some
The rural road improvement that happened as a result of the act helped rural Americans participate more efficiently in the national economy. As mentioned in the preceding paragraph, it had one other, perhaps unintended effect; Congress can (and does) condition release of federal highway dollars to states on specific terms. IOW, Congress probably lacks the constitutional authority to set a national speed limit, or to set the national drinking age, etc.
http://aycu21.webshots.com/image/19500/2005272244293889730_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005272244293889730)
As you can see from this DOT graph, the federal money set aside for highways is a sizeable chunk of change and has grown fairly steadily since the middle of the 20th century. States will jump thru all sorts of federal hoops to get their share.
With passage of the highway act way back on this day in 1916, Congress could now use the highway money as a cudgel to force states to comply with federal guidelines on a range of issues from speed limits to drinking laws, and even mandatory seatbelt usage. States do not have to comply with the congressionally mandated standards, if they don't mind losing their federal highway bucks. To date, no state has bucked Congress or even the DOT on any condition they place on receipt of the federal highway money...thus, the federal gubmint expanded its power by doing with dollars what it could not require otherwise.
http://aycu04.webshots.com/image/22323/2005287509494085994_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005287509494085994)
Here in Oklahoma
The Sooner State's first highway commissioner Sidney Suggs (a newspaper publisher from your correspondent's hometown of Ardmore) laid out a plan for major highways across the state in January 1913, all of which would be developed in time with the newly available federal money.
http://aycu30.webshots.com/image/19909/2004704717785541352_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004704717785541352)
Main Line No. 1--State line north of Newkirk through Ponca City, Perry, Guthrie, Oklahoma City, Norman, Purcell, Pauls Valley, Sulphur, Ardmore and Marietta to a point on the Red River north of Gainsville, with additional lines from Sulphur through Mill Creek, Belton and Mil-burn, intersecting Main Line No. 5 at Durant.
Main Line No. 2--Extending East and West across the state through Muskogee, Okmulgee, Okemah, Oklahoma City, El Reno, Geary, Weatherford to Texas state line.
Main Line No. 3--Chisholm Trail, from Caldwell, Kansas, through Medford, Enid, Kingfisher, El Reno, Chicasha, Duncan, Waurika to Red River.
Main Line No. 4--Mid-Continent Highway from Caney, Kansas, through Bartlesville, Tulsa, Sapulpa, Okmulgee, Holdenvill, Calvin, and Coalgate to Atoka.
Main Line No. 5--From state line north of Miami through Vinita, Pryor, Wagoner, Muskogee, Checotah, Eufaula, McAlerter, Atoka and Durant to the Red River north of Denison.
Main Line No. 6--From Kansas state line through Beaver, Buffalo, Woodward, Taloga, Arapahoe, Clinton, Cordell, Hobart, Synder, Frederick and Grandfield to the Red River bridge north of Wichita Falls.
http://aycu07.webshots.com/image/20326/2005220691515043109_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005220691515043109)
The Newcastle Bridge, Oklahoma's first federal highway aid project, was opened in 1923. It still stands along I-44 in the OKC metro.
http://aycu18.webshots.com/image/20417/2005206606202427556_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005206606202427556)