America's Highways 1776–1976: A History of the Federal-Aid Program/Part 2/Chapter 10
in the
Federal
Domain
Millions of Americans visit national parks and forests and other Federal recreational areas each year. From this experience, they enrich their lives and gain new appreciation of their national heritage and of the natural beauty of the country. It is difficult today to realize that just a few decades ago the trip that is casually made now by automobile was impossible because there was no transportation system giving citizens access to these areas.
The thrust of western migration across the continent during the first 150 years settled the land and still left vast areas in the public domain. It was from these public land areas that Congress established the first national parks and national forests. Yellowstone National Park, the first national park, was created by act of Congress in 1872.[1] Other national parks were gradually added and by 1900, included Yosemite, General Grant, Mt. Rainier, and Sequoia. A rapid expansion of the national parks system followed in succeeding years.
National forests have developed in a similar fashion. The first forest reserves were authorized by Congress in 1891,[2] and again, they were taken from the public domain in the West. The forest reserves were created to perpetuate the country’s supply of timber and to ensure a more regular flow of water from streams by preserving the forest floor to prevent too rapid run-off and flooding. In 1905, Congress transferred the forest reserves from the Department of the Interior to the Department of Agriculture, and in 1907, Congress changed the name “forest reserve” to national forest. Like the national parks, the national forests expanded rapidly and today constitute a major resource of this Nation.
The development of both the national parks system and the national forests occurred during the same period as the development of the Nation’s highway system. Because the Federal Highway Administration is the “roadbuilder” for the Federal Government, it has been directly engaged in the location, design, and construction of public roads to and through the national parks and forests and other Federal domain areas since 1905. In spite of extremely limited staff and resources in the early days, the Office of Public Roads constructed a macadam road on the grounds of the Weather Bureau Station in Mount Weather, Virginia; assisted the Forest Service in securing information to be used in the preparation of a manual on trailmaking and maintenance; and gave advice on the construction of wagon roads and trails in forest reserves to facilitate lumbering. One engineer was detailed for a short time in the Yellowstone Reserve during 1906 to investigate and make recommendations for the improvement and maintenance of forest roads and trails.[3]
In 1912 the Agriculture Appropriation Act contained a provision that 10 percent of all moneys received from the national forests during each fiscal year be available at the end of the year for use by the Secretary of Agriculture for the construction and maintenance of roads and trails within the national forests in the States from which such proceeds were derived. This provision was made a continuing appropriation by the Agriculture Appropriation Act of 1913. These laws provided, for the first time, a sustained source of revenue for road improvement purposes in the public domain. 
Mount Rainier National Park in the State of Washington was established in 1899. The peak is covered with snow year round.
Because of increased responsibilities for direct road construction activity, a Division of National Park and Forest Roads was created in 1914 in the Office of Public Roads to give advice and to supervise major construction projects in national parks and forests in cooperation with the Department of the Interior and the Forest Service. At that time, improved roads were practically nonexistent throughout the vast areas of the West where the principal national parks and forests were located.
Forest Highways and Development Roads
By the end of fiscal year 1916, the direct Federal highway construction program was well established. The annual report for that year states that approximately 127 miles of reconnaissance surveys and 350 miles of location surveys were made. Maintenance work had been done on approximately 160 miles. Construction work was in progress on about 170 miles, of which approximately 70 miles were completed during the fiscal year. Of great significance was the construction of the road across Rabbit Ear Pass in the Routt National Forest in Colorado—which opened large sections of country, and the initiation of construction of the Trinity River Road in Trinity County, California, which would eventually provide a year-round highway connection from the upper Sacramento Valley with the coast of Humboldt Bay. Another significant survey that year was on the Mt. Hood Road in Oregon. This road was essential for the comprehensive development of the Oregon National Forest and in providing a southern outlet for Columbia River highway traffic.[4]
By section 8 of the Federal Aid Road Act of 1916, the sum of $1 million was appropriated for each of the fiscal years 1917 through 1926 for a total of $10 million to be available until expended under the supervision of the Secretary of Agriculture for the survey, construction and maintenance of roads, trails and bridges within the national forests. The Act provided that the work would be carried on under cooperative agreements with the State, territory or county authorities on a basis equitable to both parties. The subsequent rules and regulations provided that the cooperating agency would contribute at least 50 percent of the cost of the work and also the entire cost of maintenance. There was thus made available for the construction of so-called “section 8 national forest roads” slightly more than $2 million annually.
The Federal Aid Road Act necessitated the establishment of a complete Federal highway engineering organization throughout the country, and in 1917, 10 Districts were established to carry out the responsibilities mandated in the Act.
Independent of the section 8 funds, the so-called “10 percent fund” was still available to the Forest Service annually for road and trail construction located entirely within the national forest areas. Part of this fund was allotted by the Forest Service for expenditure by the Bureau of Public Roads on survey and road construction work on major projects which usually were also financed with matching funds. The . . . The Secretary of Agriculture placed with the Bureau of Public Roads the responsibility for all engineering and construction work on the national forest roads and cooperative forest roads to be built under section 8 of the Act. At the same time he placed with the Forest Service the responsibility for the general administrative work necessary in selecting the roads to be constructed, securing cooperation and cooperative funds, arranging the allotment of funds and financing of projects and, in general, harmonizing the scheme of road construction with the requirements of the national forests.[5]
The Bitterroot-Bighole Road in Beaverhead National Forest, Mont., exemplifies the type of forest highway constructed around 1916.
Berthoud Pass crosses the Continental Divide about 60 miles from Denver and was on a line of the main east-west highway in Colorado in 1920. This steam shovel was surplus equipment after WW I and allowed considerable savings in time and costs.
Breaking the Mountain Barrier
In 1918 the national forests in the West comprised 274,000 square miles, equivalent to the area of the States of California, Oregon, and one-fourth of Washington.[6] They were, in general, located on the slopes of the Rocky, Cascade, and Sierra Nevada Mountains between Canada and Mexico. They comprised rough and rugged terrain which was an imposing barrier to transcontinental travel. Of greater State and local interest was the fact that the intensive development of agricultural and other resources of the valleys required the improvement of roads adjacent to and through the national forests. It was imperative that mountain barriers within the national forests be conquered if the Great Plains were to be connected to the Pacific by trunk highways and north and south travel provided in the intermountain States. Dr. L. I. Hewes, then General Inspector of BPR, described the importance of forest road work in 1920 as follows:
. . . Except to the westerner and the traveler, the idea of altitude may not carry great significance. But the effect of altitude may be realized when it is stated that from the Canadian boundary to Helena, Mont., there has never yet been built a road crossing the Rocky Mountains. Automobilists who visit Glacier National Park cannot drive from Glacier to Bolton, 30 miles away, until the road partly within the Blackfeet Forest along the southern boundary of the park is completed. There is no road in the State of Washington that can be traveled the entire year across the Cascade Mountains between the Inland Empire and Puget Sound and western Washington populations. The same is true in Oregon. The only all-the-year passable road from the Columbia basin to the coast is down the gorge of the Columbia River; and at the point where the Cascade Range would cross the river a national forest road has just been constructed on the north bank from Stevenson to White Salmon. There are now in process of construction in the 11 Western States more than 20 projects, all of which run over mountain passes at elevations of from 3,000 to 10,000 feet. These particular roads involve some of the most difficult pieces of construction in the entire western road program, and many are connecting links in State highways. The McKenzie Pass Road across the Cascade Mountains between Eugene and Bend in Oregon runs for 3 miles on a mountain top over a fresh lava flow in which not a single plant grows.
Second, every national park in the western one-third of the continent is practically surrounded by national forests, and motorists can not reach the roads already constructed in the national parks unless the roads through the forests leading to the parks are first constructed.
Glacier National Park in Montana is bordered by the Blackfeet National Forest; the Yellowstone is completely surrounded by six forests, except for a narrow strip along the railroad branch from Livingston. Mount Rainier is completely surrounded; Crater Lake can be approached only through the National forest, although a narrow strip of patented land exists on the southeast; Yosemite is completely surrounded, except for the road to El Porto; and Sequoia lies in the heart of the Sequoia Forest.[7]
In addition to the importance of forest highways to through travel and to community development, they were essential to the conservation and resource development of the national forests themselves. Annually, there was a tremendous loss of timber due to fires since there was no way to fight forest fires in remote areas without access roads. In 1920, heavy timber operations in the national forests were still some years away; however, the need for a forest highway system was evident if both timber and other forest resources, including recreation, were to be developed.
Early Administration
The Federal Highway Act of 1921 provided a number of elements needed for the administration of the cooperative Federal-aid highway program. Section 23 of this Act substantially increased the funds available for the forest highways and recognized that there were two distinct classes of roads needed in the national forests. The “forest highways,” which were in many instances extensions within the forest of the State and local road system, were needed for community use and resource development; in addition, “forest development roads” were needed for the protection, administration and resource development of the national forests themselves. The forest development roads have been a direct responsibility of the Forest Service, and their location, design, and construction supervision has generally been by Forest Service engineers, sometimes with assistance from the Bureau of Public Roads.
The rules and regulations for administration of forest roads and trails, approved by the Secretary of Agriculture on March 11, 1922, provided for the development of a forest highway system through the cooperative effort of the State highway departments, the Bureau of Public Roads and the Forest Service. These regulations also provided for the development by the three agencies of an annual work program defining those projects selected for improvement with forest highway funds. These procedures have worked so well that they have been followed for over 50 years with little change.
By 1921 the importance of forest highways to interstate and regional travel, as well as to the full development of State and local road systems, was fully recognized. At that time, there were approximately 14,000 miles of main State and county roads within the forests still to be constructed, and in addition, it was estimated there were approximately 13,000 miles of forest development roads or service roads needed in the administration of the forests.[8]
To facilitate the construction work in the western States, BPR established the Western Regional Office at San Francisco, California, under the direction of Dr. L. I. Hewes, Deputy Chief Engineer in Charge. The six western districts (with headquarters at Portland, San Francisco, Denver, Missoula, Ogden, and Albuquerque) were placed under the Western Regional Headquarters. These locations were also the headquarters of the corresponding forest districts.
By 1929 there were 14,166 miles on the forest highway system of which 12,015 miles were in the 11 western States, South Dakota and Alaska. Some improvement had been made on 4,091 miles since the beginning of the program.[9] Total expenditure through fiscal year 1929 was $77 million. Laurence I. Hewes
No one man contributed more to the development of the highways of the West than Dr. Laurence Ilsley Hewes. He opened the Western Headquarters Office of the Bureau of Public Roads in 1921 when Washington officials felt that the magnitude of the national forest highways and the expected increased workload resulting from the 1921 Federal Highway Act needed more direct supervision than was possible by having all review authority placed in Washington. In the course of his 29-year tenure, he stimulated and guided highway progress over an area representing one-third of the Nation.
Dr. Hewes was born in New Hampshire. He received a B.S. degree from Dartmouth College in 1898 and a Ph.D. from Yale University in 1901. He then taught science and mathematics at Rhode Island State College, Yale University and Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington. In 1911 he was appointed as a Senior Highway Engineer with the Federal Office of Public Roads in Washington, D.C.
In 1920, as General Inspector, he conducted a study of the operations of the California Highway Commission and of its accomplishments under three State highway bond issues. The report was cited as being the most comprehensive study of results obtained through the development of a State highway system that had yet been undertaken. In fact, this report was the initial highway needs study of the type later authorized under Section 11 of the 1934 Hayden-Cartwright Act, which authorized Federal-aid funds to cover the cost of highway planning surveys.
Dr. Hewes was selected in 1921 to administer the Federal-aid highways and the direct Federal highway construction programs in the 11 western States and the Territories of Alaska and Hawaii. He served continuously as chief of the Western Headquarters for almost 30 years.
During that time, Dr. Hewes guided and shaped the highway transportation patterns of the Federal-aid highway system. He assured the connection of Federal-aid road systems in the West with the principal roads of Canada and Mexico and with Federal-aid routes of the States to the east. He directed the construction of thousands of miles of Federal roads and trails through the national forests and parks. He directed the coordinated efforts of Public Roads and the western States leading to the designation of the city-to-city routes of the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways. He also directed the activities leading to the designation of the Federal-Aid Secondary Road System and Federal-aid route extensions through the urban areas in the West that were authorized in the 1944 Highway Act.
As an engineer, controller, expediter and manager, Dr. Hewes had an influence on every phase of highway construction. “The problem of keeping a high mountain pass free from winter blockade in Colorado was as fascinating problem to him as repairing flood damage on an Oregon valley road, or the threat of shifting sands to travel in the Imperial Valley,” according to a testimonial written after his death.
His interest in keeping the Federal-State partnership active and healthy led him to play a major role in the establishment of the Western Association of State Highway Officials (consisting of the 11 western States, Alaska, Hawaii, Texas, and the Forest Service, Park Service, Land Management and Public Roads agencies). He participated in all of its meetings and in the work of its various committees.
In addition, Dr. Hewes contributed many technical and policy papers dealing with highways. He authored several books on mathematics and highway engineering, the most important of which was American Highway Practice, a standard engineering reference first published in 1942. In collaboration with Professor Clark Oglesby of Stanford University, he published several revised editions.
In 1934 Dr. Hewes was Chairman of the American Delegation to the Seventh International Roads Congress at Munich, Germany. In 1946–47 he was Consulting Engineer to the government of Saudi Arabia. Dr. Hewes’ chief hobby was his job, but family was a close second. He and Mrs. Hewes, an author of novels for children, raised a family of five. He was also an enthusiastic tennis player and a butterfly collector. He was skilled enough in lepidopterology to have articles on the subject published in National Geographic magazine.
Dr. Hewes was a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the California Academy of Sciences, the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco, the Cosmos Club of Washington, D.C., and the Sigma Xi honorary fraternity.
Just prior to his death on March 2, 1950, he received the Gold Medal Award of the U.S. Department of Commerce for exceptional service. A year later, the Western Association of State Highway Officials formally approved the establishment of the “Dr. L. I. Hewes Award,” to be given annually to a highway engineer from WASHO in recognition of an outstanding contribution to highway development.
“This award,” reads the resolution, “will perpetrate the name and achievements of Laurence Ilsley Hewes . . . whose superlative contributions in every phase of highway engineering gave great impetus to Western highway development.” 
Tooth Rock Tunnel on the Columbia River, Highway Oreg., constructed by BPR in 1936–37. The old highway can be seen above the tunnel portal.
The Growth of a Valuable Resource
In the 1930’s, the Bureau of Public Roads’ direct Federal construction program in the Federal domain greatly expanded. The onset of the Great Depression prompted Congress to enact legislation expanding public works construction, including funds for roads and trails in the national forests and national parks.
For example, the regular forest highway fund authorizations under section 23 of the Federal Highway Act during the period 1921–1929 totaled $58 million, whereas in the period 1930–1939, these funds totaled $93 million. In addition, under the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 and several emergency relief and construction acts, $43 million in additional funds were authorized and appropriated for forest highways and development roads and trails. Of the total funds, $95 million were expended on forest highways and $40 million were expended on forest development roads and trails during this period.
By 1940, the original national forest lands had been increased by more than 17 million acres, purchased under the Weeks Act passed by Congress in 1911 and amended in 1924, which authorized the purchase of forest lands to protect the navigability of streams, and to help perpetuate the country’s water supply. All the original national forests were taken from the public domain lands in the West. By 1940, there were 2 national forests in Alaska, 1 in Puerto Rico, and 158 in 36 States.
While in 1930 there were only 65 miles of forest highways with a bituminous surface, by 1939 there were about 1,670 miles of surfaced roads that had some form of bituminous surfacing or paving.[10]
The improvement of the Nation’s highway transportation system was making the national forest areas increasingly accessible and contributed to their becoming a great national resource. In addition to the production of saw timber, the national forests provided a water source for cities, towns, farm irrigation, and hydroelectric power; grazing land for cattle, sheep and horses; protection for wildlife; mining resources; and recreation areas. In 1931, there were 8 million visits by people who used the national forests for camping and other forms of recreation.[11] In 1939, 14.5 million people visited the national forests.[12]
Postwar Developments on the Forest Highways
The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1944 authorized for each of the first 3 postwar years, $25 million for forest highways, $4.3 million for highways in national parks, and $10 million for parkways. By concurrent resolution of Congress, the first postwar fiscal year was determined to be the 1946 fiscal year.
During the war, timber was cut from commercial stands on such a scale that the supply was nearly exhausted. In developing the postwar national housing program, it became imperative to use the timber resources of the national forests. This resulted in an immediate demand for timber access roads.
At the same time, it was recognized that many forest highways on the Federal-aid and State highway systems constructed in the earlier years needed modernization to provide an adequate level of service for the increasing traffic volume. However, the scarcity of materials and supplies and the high national priority assigned to building houses affected the resumption of the forest highway program.
A directive from the Office of War Mobilization, issued on August 5, 1946, restricted the award of contracts for construction in Federal areas to improvements needed for the production of lumber in order to conserve the use of materials needed for the expanding housing program. The President limited expenditures for forest highways during fiscal year 1946 to $12.5 million.
Wind Cave-Deadwood and Sylvan Lake Road in S. Dakota with a new railroad bridge crossing over the forest highway.
Work on the forest highways on the Federal-Aid Primary Highway System had ceased in 1942, and little had been done to repair surface damage during the war years. Hauling logs and timber had left a deep imprint on many miles of main forest highways. Toward the end of the forties, there was, therefore, increasing pressure from many quarters to modernize these highways to meet the growing traffic demand. The Public Roads Administration, in cooperation with the State highway departments and the Forest Service, undertook a study of the network of forest highways in the western States and Alaska and reported in 1948 that an expenditure of $40 million for each of the next 10 years would be required to provide a well balanced and adequate system.[13]
In spite of many problems, in 1949, 232 miles of forest highways were completed at a cost of $8 million and projects were under construction at the close of the year on 521 miles, estimated to cost $24 million.[14] Many important forest highway projects were either under construction or programed for improvement.
The direct Federal construction program was growing in size and complexity during the fifties. Forest highways were authorized $219 million during this period which was more than twice the amount authorized during the thirties. The amount authorized for forest development roads and trails was $222 million compared with $40 million during the thirties.
A concerted effort was made during the 1950’s to modernize the forest highways on the Federal-aid highway system that were no longer adequate. A 310-foot steel arch bridge was constructed across the Snake River in the Teton National Forest in Wyoming, and 26 miles of forest highway was built through the Snake River Canyon, becoming a part of U.S. Route 89. This opened a new route that saved from 50 to 135 miles when traveling from Utah and southeastern Idaho to Jackson Hole, Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. This route permits a gradual climb to Jackson, Wyoming (elevation 6,235 feet) instead of going over the summit through Teton Pass at an elevation of 8,450 feet by tortuous mountain road. Because of the difference in elevation, the new route also made a great difference in travel conditions during the winter months.
Highways in the Territory of Alaska
In addition to the normal forest highway program, the 1950 Federal-Aid Highway Act contained a special forest highway provision of $3.5 million each for fiscal years 1951 and 1952 for the construction of new highways in the Tongass National Forest in Alaska. The Bureau had been building forest highways in Alaska since 1919 through an agreement with the Alaska Road Commission in the Department of the Interior. One such project was the Turnagain Arm Highway, connecting Anchorage with Seward and the Kenai Peninsula highway system. In addition, BPR, by mutual agreement with the Alaska Road Commission occasionally performed highway engineering functions throughout Alaska. By 1956, some 400 miles of forest highways at a cost of approximately $50 million had been constructed in Alaska by BPR.
The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 extended the Federal-aid highway program to Alaska for the first time, and it transferred all the functions and responsibilities for the Territory’s highway program to BPR. Personnel of the Alaska Road Commission were transferred to the existing BPR Alaska at this time, and the direct responsibility for the location, surveys, design, contract administration, construction supervision, and highway maintenance of the 5,356-mile highway system placed the Bureau in the position of acting as a State highway department. In 1959, Alaska became a State, and the Alaska Omnibus Act made the State responsible for the Federal-aid highway program on a basis comparable to that of the other States.
A 10-Year Program
In 1958, Congress directed that a study be made to determine how well the forest highway system was meeting the highway transportation needs of the counties and communities that were within or adjacent to the national forests and that a 10-year program to meet these needs be prepared in cooperation with the Forest Service and the States. The report was submitted to Congress in January 1960. The report noted that:
- The roads of primary importance to the States, counties, and communities which were not designated as forest highways totaled 28,884 miles. Approximately 48 percent of this mileage was on the Federal-aid highway systems as follows:
| Interstate Highway System | 360 |
| Primary System | 2,332 |
| Secondary System | 11,272 |
| 13,964 |
- As a comparison, 82 percent, or 19,927 miles out of a total of 24,399 miles, of presently designated forest highways was on a Federal-aid system.
- It would cost approximately $2.6 billion to complete construction of all presently designated forest highways to adequate standards.
- A 10-year construction and maintenance program for roads of primary importance but which were not designated forest highways would cost a total of $803 million for construction and $237 million for maintenance.
- A similar 10-year construction and maintenance program for presently designated forest highways would cost a total of $1.4 billion for construction and $305 million for maintenance.
The report estimated that the 10-year construction programs, totaling about $2.2 billion, “could be financed by continued authorization of Federal forest-highway funds at the presently authorized level of $33 million annually, together with the use of all other funds normally expended on forest highways, including Federal-aid funds, State and local matching money, and other State and local funds.”[15]
The report recommended that, since Federal-aid funds were not eligible for maintenance of highways and, in the past, authorized funds had been fully obligated for construction of forest highways, the approximately $542 million estimated for maintenance during the 10-year period should be derived from State and local sources. The report also recommended that the apportionment of funds be continued in the historic manner.[16]
As of January 1960, national forests, or purchase units under the Weeks Act, were located in 41 States and in Puerto Rico. In all of these States, there was a designated forest highway system except in North Dakota. Nine other States[N 1] had no national forests or purchase units, and, consequently no forest highway system.
Since 1960, the direct Federal highway construction program has continued at about the same program level. Beginning with the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1958, forest highway funds have been authorized for each of the succeeding years at the level of $33 million. Historically, funds for the forest highway system have been authorized and appropriated from the general fund. However, the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1970 directed that, beginning with the fiscal year 1972, the forest highway funds would come from the Highway Trust Fund. This Act amended the definition of the term “forest highway” to require all forest highways to be on the Federal-aid system. This change eliminated the former Class III forest highway designation which included those highways designated as forest highways which were not on the Federal-aid system.
McKenzie Highway (Oreg. FH-22) in Willamette National Forest is a modern design and has numerous safety features.
- ↑ Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island.
The Hardships of Working on Forest Roads
The history of the BPR’s direct Federal construction program is a record of the work of three generations of highway engineers, many of whom devoted their entire professional careers to this service. By the very nature of the work, they accepted hardship and personal privation for the love and challenge of the work. Arthur E. Loder, Assistant Chief Engineer of BPR in 1918 aptly described their lot.
Much of the work is located at high altitudes where heavy snow remains until late in the spring. The streams carrying away the melting snow remain at flood stage making them difficult to ford until the last of June and in some cases even later. In such places the snow may begin to fall again in September and often stops field work before October. Although the work is located in every climate from the torrid desert, through regions of excessive rainfall and high timberline altitudes to the frozen forests of Alaska, the average season for efficient work is short. Under these conditions work must be organized and rushed as fast as possible while conditions permit.
Although the locating engineer’s work, with its interesting problems and the call of mountain and forest, is so fascinating that he is rarely content thereafter to live in the plains, his existence is a busy one and his hardships real. He soon learns to regard as a luxury his bed made by pounding the earth with an ax to remove the
When the Clakamas River in Mt. Hood National Forest reached a “200-year frequency” flood stage in 1964, Oregon Forest Highway 55 was destroyed.
In 1967 repair work was underway on Oreg, FH 55. The men working on this project took a quick course in mountain climbing, which later saved the life of at least one man.
The slope was drilled and small charges of dynamite were set to blast the face of the slope for what is called presplitting of cut slopes. The drills and other equipment had to be high-lined on cables to the top of the slope.
Men and equipment operating above Highway 55, both secured by ropes and cables. The work today is still as challenging as ever.
stones and roughest projections, and never has difficulty in sleeping without shelter unless the coyotes howl too much. He is also content with his morning bath in an icy stream and never complains of an all day and night hike to find camp, but the romance of the work gives way to the most serious problem of existence when, on a long lonesome reconnaissance a week’s travel from base, he wakes in the morning to find that a neighborly bear has visited camp, destroying his light grub pack and making away with the bacon upon which he had relied for subsistence on his return journey. If to this is added the sadness of finding that his horses have slipped their hobbles and disappeared completely, leaving him afoot, hungry, and four days from grub, his misery is complete. When a survey party sets forth with a standard camp, living conditions are usually good. The hardships are more often encountered on the long reconnaissance surveys when an attempt is made to travel with little equipment, depending upon game and good fortune for subsistence. Some sections can be traversed more easily by waiting for snowfall and using snowshoes or skis. In Alaska the dog train is useful. It is not an uncommon experience for the party to bunk in the snow without tent.
Occasionally the survey must be carried along the face of precipitous slopes and rocky cliffs where a misstep or a loosened rock would be disastrous. In such cases long ropes from above suspend the men or protect them from accident. In 1916 one member of a survey party on this work lost his life from a fall of several hundred feet on account of not taking such precaution.[17]
In 1926, the BPR Annual Report described forest highway construction: “For the engineering features involved in their construction and the difficulties overcome these roads are not surpassed in the world.”
Today we smoothly cross these same mountain barriers on Interstate highways which are a tribute to 50 years of highway engineering progress pioneered by those engineers who made the first highway locations and carried through the design and construction of the first improved highways across the mountain barriers, tying all parts of our country together with a modern highway transportation system.
National Park Roads and Trails
The construction of roads in national parks was an essential element of park development. Prior to the establishment of the National Park Service in the Department of the Interior in 1916, improvements within each park appear to have been the responsibility of the park superintendent, and road improvements were at best spasmodic as funds were made available, but some progress was made. Yellowstone National Park was allotted $15,000 in 1877, the first appropriation for roads in a national park.[18]
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers took over the roadbuilding responsibility in Yellowstone National Park in the summer of 1883 and continued to be responsible for road construction in the Park until 1918. During this period, the basic road system was constructed. General Hiram M. Chittenden, associated with Yellowstone National Park from 1891 to 1893 and from 1899 to 1906, is credited with having a major influence on the development of the Yellowstone Park loop road system. He was one of the early advocates of building high quality roads in the Park, roads that would sit lightly on the landscape, taking advantage of the terrain by curvilinear alinement.[19]
By the mid-1920’s, it was becoming increasingly evident that the activities of the State highway departments, the Bureau of Public Roads, the Forest Service, and the National Park Service needed to be closely correlated. In most instances, the national parks were practically surrounded by forests, and in almost every case, the approach to the parks was dependent on the construction of a main road through the forests.
In 1924 Congress enacted special legislation (43 Stat. 90) for the authorization of road construction in national parks. Following this legislation, BPR and the National Park Service worked out a Memorandum of Agreement on the survey, construction and improvement of roads and trails in the national parks and national monuments. This document and later ones established broad principles for standardizing construction of these highways and joining them with forest roads and trails, State highways, and the Federal-aid system to form an interconnected system of highways.[20]
A statement of policy on roads was made by Director Stephen T. Mather in the National Park Service’s annual report of 1924:
It is not the plan to have the parks gridironed with roads, but in each it is desired to make a good sensible road system so that visitors may have a good chance to enjoy them. At the same time large sections of each park will be kept in a natural wilderness state without piercing feeder roads and will be accessible only by trails by the horseback rider and the hiker. All this has been carefully considered in laying out our road program. Particular attention also will be given to laying out the roads themselves so that they will disturb as little as possible the vegetation, forests, and rocky hillsides through which they are built. . . .[21]
See America First
Under the new park road Act, work was initiated in 1925 on the construction of the transmountain highway in Glacier National Park, Montana. This project was considered one of the most important of the transcontinental highways. It was located between Lake MacDonald and St. Mary Lake and connected these two areas of Glacier National Park via Logan Pass.
By the mid-1920’s, a national system of improved highways was beginning to take form, encouraging family vacations by automobile and visits to the national parks and national forests. “See America First” was the slogan. Auto camping was becoming increasingly popular. The first automobiles had been admitted to Yellowstone National Park in 1915,[22] and from 1918 to 1925 approximately 1.6 million private autos entered the national parks.[23]
Locating National Parks in the East
All but one of the major parks were west of the Mississippi River, while two-thirds of the population lived east. Director Mather wrote in 1923, “I should like to see additional national parks established east of the Mississippi, but just how this can be accomplished is not clear.”[24]
While western parks had been created out of the public domain, the only extensive land in public ownership in the East were the number of forest reserves acquired under the provisions of the Weeks Act, which authorized the purchase of land for the protection of forests and the headwaters of streams. It appeared the only practical way national park areas could be acquired would be by donation or by purchasing land with privately donated funds. 
In 1925 Mr. MacDonald made a visit to the construction site of the Transmountain Highway in Glacier National Park, Mont.
The Transmountain Highway (now called Going-to-the-Sun Highway) under construction in 1927.
Going-to-the-Sun Highway in 1962 in Glacier National Park, Mont.
As a result of Director Mather’s concerns, Secretary of the Interior Hubert Work, in 1924, established a Southern Appalachian National Park Commission to make an investigation of the southern Appalachian Mountains region and to determine whether there were suitable areas for national parks. The initial committee appointed by the Secretary was composed of public-spirited men who served without compensation. The only funds available for the Commission’s use were those provided by private individuals. The Commission devoted much personal time in reconnaissance of the area, meeting with local groups and investigating the feasibility of areas to be recommended for national parks. From these studies, Congress drafted the necessary legislation in 1925 authorizing the securing of lands in the southern Appalachian Mountains for perpetual preservation as national parks.
By 1926 enough public support had been generated so that enabling laws in both the State legislatures and in Congress led to the establishment of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina and Tennessee and the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. Later the Mammoth Cave National Park was established in Kentucky.
In the Commission’s 1924 report to the Secretary of the Interior, the following comment was made on the Blue Ridge area of Virginia that became the Shenandoah National Park:
The greatest single feature, however, is a possible skyline drive along the mountain top, following a continuous ridge and looking down westerly on the Shenandoah Valley, some 2,500 to 3,500 feet below, and also commanding a view of the Piedmont Plain stretching easterly to the Washington Monument, which landmark of our National Capital may be seen on a clear day. Few scenic drives in the world could surpass it.[25]
It was this vision that led ultimately to the construction of the Skyline Drive in the proposed Shenandoah National Park.
Pioneer Road Construction
By 1930 the work initiated in 1924 for the National Park Service on the improvement of park roads was a significant part of the total direct Federal construction program. A system of national park roads had been selected for improvement, involving some 1,500 miles of road. The cost of improvement was $50 million, and $22.5 million had been authorized between 1924 and 1930, of which $20 million had been actually appropriated. Of the planned system, 302 miles were already improved at a cost of approximately $9.2 million, and construction was underway on 241 miles on which the cost was estimated to be approximately $9.6 million.[26]
The initial project in 1924 of surveying the transmountain highway in Glacier National Park and the work on the Zion-Mount Carmel Road illustrate the difficulties to be surmounted in pioneer road construction. The transmountain highway project was only accessible by saddle horses, and in the very early stages of work, the average load for a packhorse was very small. The project was on the west side of the Continental Divide in the Rocky Mountains and was 15.7 miles long. It started at an elevation of 3,537 feet and, for the major portion of its length, climbed along the “Garden Wall” to Logan Pass at an elevation of 6,648 feet. In the upper reaches, the location followed virtually a vertical cliff for long distances.
On the Zion-Mount Carmel Road in Zion National Park, Utah, which was completed in 1930, a tunnel was necessary.
In the 4.6 mile stretch of the Zion Park Road in Upper Pine Creek Canyon, there is more than a mile of tunnel. The tunnel is sufficiently near to the cliff face so that it has been possible to cut openings or galleries through the face from which views of the canyon may be obtained. . . .
Before actual construction work began much had to be done in preparation. A feasible route had to be found by which to climb from the floor of the valley, 1,400 feet in elevation to the park boundary at 4,100 feet. The survey involved weeks of arduous labor, climbing rocky slopes, cutting through dense thickets, hanging from hazardous points, and at all times maintaining an accuracy of measurement which would allow computations to be made closely enough for proper control and close estimate of the work to be done.
In starting the tunnel work, it was necessary to begin at several points along the line and excavate the galleries first and then complete the tunnel between these points. All measurements had to be made from the outside, carried in and projected through the tunnel. Scaffolds were built on the outside of the cliffs, and all supplies and materials were lifted to these galleries.[27]
The National Park System
On June 10, 1933, President Roosevelt signed an executive order establishing the national park system which was to be administered by the National Park Service. The components of the system were identified in six groupings: (1) The National Capital Parks, comprising the lands reserved by the Federal Government after the founding of the District of Columbia in 1790 on which today are found the Capitol, the White House, the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials with the connecting mall and park area, the Rock Creek Park authorized in 1890, and other areas and buildings in the Nation’s Capital of great historical significance; (2) 21 national memorials; (3) 11 national military parks and 9 national battlefield sites; (4) national cemeteries, including the Gettysburg National Cemetery and 10 other similar cemeteries established at the sites of historic battlefields; (5) 10 national monuments on military reservations; and (6) 21 national monuments on national forest lands. Altogether, there were 137 areas in the national park system.[28]
Between 1933 and 1940, six new national parks were established: the Everglades National Park, Florida, 1934; the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina and Tennessee, 1934; the Shenandoah National Park, Virginia, 1935; Big Bend National Park, Texas, 1935 ; the Olympic National Park, Washington, 1938; and King’s Canyon National Park, California, 1940. BPR’s activity on park road construction was thus greatly expanded.
As a result of the 1933 executive order, Commissioner MacDonald, in January 1934, established the Eastern Parks and Forests District in Washington, D.C., to provide an organization to undertake the location, design, and construction of park and forest and such other highway work in the eastern section of the United States as might be entrusted to the Bureau. The result of this action was to bring under 
The east portal of the tunnel on the Zion-Mount Carmel Highway in Utah.
Excavation of gallery No. 1 late in 1927.
View of Pine Greek Canyon from gallery No. 4.
View of the completed gallery No. 4 with reinforced concrete lining from across Pine Creek Canyon.
the new district direct supervision of all the work contemplated or underway in the East. The territory of the region included 30 States east of the Rocky Mountains and the District of Columbia. The work in the western States and Alaska remained as organized in 1921 under a Western Regional Office.
All of the park work was performed under the interagency agreement of 1926, and by 1939, 1,577 miles of road in or leading to 43 national parks and monuments had been improved on the national park system.[29] For example, much of the original Yellowstone Park loop road was reconstructed suitable for automobile traffic. The Red Lodge-Cook City approach road to Yellowstone National Park and the Cameron Desert View approach road to Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona were both completed. The Crater Lake National Park loop road in Oregon, portions of the Fall River Highway in the Rocky Mountain National Park, and the Wawona Tunnel project in Yosemite National Park in California were also completed. This tunnel was approximately 4,200 feet in length. The Big Oak Flat Road on which the Wawona Tunnel is located replaced a carriage road built in 1874 which was very narrow with a steep descent into Yosemite Valley. Building a road to acceptable standards to replace the old road called for the best highway engineering skills. The new road, 10 miles in length, included three tunnels, three major bridges, and 2 miles of exceptionally difficult construction. Work was also in progress on the Tioga Pass Road, giving access to Yosemite National Park from points east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
Skyline Drive
Late in 1930, work was begun on the Skyline Drive to provide employment for the inhabitants of the drought-stricken Shenandoah Valley and to open a road in the newly authorized Shenandoah National Park for recreational use.
Today, Skyline Drive extends from the northern boundary of the Shenandoah National Park at the outskirts of Front Royal, Virginia, and then in a southerly direction along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains to Jarman’s Gap near where U.S. Route 250 crosses the summit of the Blue Ridge Mountains at Rockfish Gap, a distance of approximately 97 miles. In altitude, the Skyline Drive varies from approximately 600 feet at Front Royal to a maximum elevation on the north section of 3,390 feet on the side of Hogback Mountain. 
Cole Creek Bridge in the Great Smoky Mountains.
A creek channel change was necessary on this section of the highway in the Great Smoky Mountains. Native rock was used for the wall.
A section of Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah National Park about 9 miles south of Front Royal, Va.
Hand-laid rock embankment at Beacon Hollow Overlook on Skyline Drive.
Construction in 1938 of Crater Lake Rim Road switchback along Applegate Peak (at left) in Oregon. Men in foreground are installing a culvert.
Preliminary surveys were started in January 1931 with only 5 months to make surveys, prepare plans, and award contracts for approximately 40 miles of highway. The initial construction work was let under two contracts, a 20-mile section from Thornton Gap to Big Meadows and a 20-mile section from the Rapidan River via Big Meadows to Swift Run Gap. Both contracts were awarded in the latter part of June 1931.
The Skyline Drive was constructed in three major sections. Part of the first section between Thornton Gap and Swift Run Gap was surfaced by the summer of 1934. Because of the public clamor to use the park road, it was decided to open the Drive on September 15, 1934, between Thornton Gap and Big Meadows. But it soon became impossible to keep tourists off the section from Big Meadows to Swift Run Gap and work was delayed. The surfacing on this part was completed in 1935.
The northern section between Thornton Gap and Front Royal was placed under contract in 1934, and the final surfacing was completed in time for the dedication of the Park by President Roosevelt in July 1936. The final section of Skyline Drive between Swift Run Gap and Jarman Gap was constructed between 1936 and 1939.[30]
It has been estimated that the grading and base course operations, covering the years 1931 through 1938, provided approximately 2.1 million man-hours of employment and the total construction cost was approximately $4 million.
Although begun hurriedly during the Depression to stimulate employment, the blend of this park road into the mountain landscape, providing the most scenic views of the panorama of the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains and the plains of Virginia, was no accident. It was the joint effort of the National Park Service landscape architects and the Bureau’s highway engineers in carrying out the policy on park roads announced in 1924.
A Master Plan for the National Park System
Very early the National Park Service had evolved a general development plan or master plan as a guide for the development of each park area in the national park system. The road system plan was an integral part of the overall master park plan and was developed through collaboration of Bureau engineers working closely with the landscape architects and engineers in the National Park Service. It was customary for the road system plan to be approved both by the Director of the National Park Service and the Commissioner of the Bureau of Public Roads. The road system plan provided a means for identifying roadway needs and improvements and allowed for phase construction of park roads and trails.
During the 1940’s, much work was accomplished on the development of the road system plans while the construction program was at a low ebb. However, even though there was a scarcity of materials because of the urgency of the housing program, the mileage on the national park system increased from 1,577 to 1,979 miles.[31] 
Spreading crushed stone over fresh oil on Crater Lake Rim Road.
Keeping Up With the Vacationers
After the establishment in 1933 of the national park system, the Bureau of Public Roads was called on to build roads in many of the areas as they were added to the national park system.
The development of the Nation’s highway transportation system had also brought a tremendous increase in recreational travel in the years following the close of World War II. Visits to the national park system mounted from a low of 6 million in 1942 to 33 million in 1950 and to 72 million in 1960.[32]
Providing an adequate road system serving each of the national park areas was an essential element of the development of each area. To accommodate the travelers, much work was necessary. For example, during the fifties, the Stevens Canyon Highway in the southeastern part of Mount Rainier National Park in Washington was completed. The Moran-Yellowstone Park approach road, between the Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, was also completed. In the eastern United States, the work included park road construction in the Acadia National Park in Maine, located on beautiful Mount Desert Island, in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and in the new Everglades National Park.
The Mission 66 national park 10-year program had as a target date the completion by 1966 of the modernization of the national park system, now comprising 183 separate units. The upgrading of existing park roads and trails, construction of new park roads and construction on the eight national parkways administered by the National Park Service was a major part of this program. Special emphasis was placed on modernizing the Yellowstone National Park road system in anticipation of the celebration of the 100th anniversary of Yellowstone Park in 1972.
One of the last transmountain highways of the West, reminiscent of the early twenties pioneer effort, was the North Cross State Highway in Washington, constructed during the 1960’s. After construction was substantially completed, the North Cascades National Park was established. The highway bisects the national park and is its principal access road. Important segments of the highway were designed and constructed as forest highway projects.
Throughout the national park system the unusual terrain features encountered, the necessity to preserve to the maximum extent the natural scene, the fulfillment of park objectives in constructing roads to points of special scenic interest, and to meet the requirements of other park objectives, challenged the best ingenuity of the highway engineer working with the landscape architect.
The Development of Parkways
Jordan Pond in the Acadia National Park in Maine.
Early parkways showed the potential of the parkway. The first parkway in the Nation was the Bronx River Parkway completely opened to traffic in 1924. By 1934, 114 miles of parkways existed in the New York City area. These parkways, developed by private authorities to move commuter traffic, generated great interest among highway engineers because of the imaginative design concept. When properly designed, the parkway could serve a twofold purpose—it would provide a park and an arterial highway at the same time, and in a manner that would impact favorably upon the surrounding environment.
The design concept was to develop the parkway from the interior outward in such a way as to provide freedom in the determination of the highway location to take maximum advantage of the landscape for scenic vistas and to preserve the parkway environment by suitable planting and screening. The necessity for preserving the arterial highway aspect was also recognized, and access to the parkway was provided only at long intervals. Special attention was given to the development of interesting alinement by long, easy curves fitted to the natural contour of the land, with special emphasis given to the landscaping scheme so that the completed road became a part of the natural countryside.[33]
The concept of national parkways under the authority of the National Park Service came about in 1928 when an act of Congress authorized a highway between Mount Vernon and Arlington Memorial Bridge to commemorate the birth of George Washington. National parkways encompass ribbons of land of scenic interest belonging to the U.S. Government and are authorized by an act of Congress. They are not designed for high-speed point-to-point travel, but they do constitute a through traffic highway.
The Mount Vernon Memorial Parkway
In December 1924, the 68th Congress, by joint resolution, established the United States Commission for the Celebration of the 200th Anniversary of the Birth of George Washington. In May 1928, the 70th Congress passed a law directing the Bicentennial Commission, acting through and using the services of the Department of Agriculture, to construct a suitable memorial highway to connect Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington, with the south end of the Arlington Memorial Bridge which crosses the Potomac River at the city of Washington. The objective was to have the Mount Vernon Memorial Parkway completed in time for the bicentennial celebration in 1932.
The concept of a highway to Mount Vernon originated with a group of public-spirited citizens organized in 1886 and incorporated by the Virginia Legislature as the Mount Vernon Avenue Association in 1888. An interesting sidelight is that the Virginia Legislature simultaneously, by a joint resolution, transferred to the Association a claim for $120,000. (The State had loaned this money to the United States Government in 1790 to be used toward the erection of the public buildings at the permanent seat of government in the United States. The loan was paid in person to President George Washington, and the money was disbursed under his supervision.) The General Assembly empowered the Association to collect and receive the claim and the interest on it from the U.S. Government and to use the funds to construct the proposed memorial avenue to Mount Vernon.[34] No tangible progress was made until the passage of the 1928 Act. The Secretary of Agriculture immediately delegated the duty of surveying and supervising the construction of the highway to the Bureau of Public Roads. Earlier the Bureau had made reconnaissance surveys of two possible locations at the request of the Committee on Roads of the House of Representatives, one an inland route and the other a route along the shore of the Potomac River. With the approval of the Bicentennial Commission, the river route was selected as having the greater scenic and historical advantage, and offering superiority for the development of park areas between the highway and the river.[35] Surveying and determining the final location were begun on June 15, 1928, and the work was pursued with all possible vigor. The development of the Mount Vernon Memorial Highway was most fortuitous because it provided an opportunity for the BPR to further develop the parkway design concept. In 1930 Congress enlarged the concept of the Mount Vernon Memorial Parkway to provide for the development of a parkway along the shores of the Potomac all the way up to Great Falls in Virginia and from Fort Washington to Great Falls in Maryland, incorporating the parkway section already under construction as part of the George Washington Memorial Parkway.
The Mount Vernon Memorial Parkway in Virginia a couple years after it was opened to traffic in 1932.
The Mount Vernon Memorial Parkway was completed on schedule and was dedicated in a special ceremony in conjunction with the annual meeting of the American Association of State Highway Officials in 1932. This occasion afforded highway engineers a chance to see at firsthand an example of the full development of the parkway concept. Forty-four years later, the Mount Vernon Memorial Parkway, now the George Washington Memorial Parkway, remains one of the most scenic drives in the national capital area and a continuing tribute to our first President.
George Washington Memorial Parkway in Virginia in 1959.
The Blue Ridge Parkway
The establishment of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Shenandoah National Park and the success of the Skyline Drive as it was developing in the Shenandoah National Park led almost to a natural conclusion—the construction of a parkway connecting the two parks.
The southern Appalachian region between these two parks was one of great natural beauty and an area depressed economically even before the Great Depression. Because of the mountainous terrain, large sections of the Appalachian area had become isolated from the mainstream of national development. Improved highway transportation was recognized as essential to the economic development of the area.
As early as 1911, Colonel Joseph Hyde Pratt, head of the North Carolina Geological and Economic Survey, had promoted the idea of a recreational road opening up the beauty of the North Carolina mountains to be called the “Crest of the Blue Ridge Highway.” Subsequently, an Appalachian Highway Company was organized which undertook to build such a road as a toll facility. The effort, however, was abandoned with the onset of World War I.[36]
However, by 1933 a combination of many factors, together with the enabling funds of the National Industrial Recovery Act, made the construction of such a tremendous public works project feasible.
There was great competition between North Carolina and Tennessee over the location for the park-to-park highway, but the final location was a North Carolina routing. (An agreement between President Roosevelt and Secretary of the Interior Ickes provided that the Government would select the route and the States would donate the right-of-way.) In December 1933, the National Park Service received an additional appropriation of nearly $4 million to start the Blue Ridge Parkway.
The design and construction of this parkway was to become a major effort for the Region 15[N 1] staff for many years. Few roads have presented such a variety of location problems. The terrain varies from gentle to the most rugged in which road construction has been undertaken east of the Mississippi River. The Blue Ridge Parkway, from the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina and Tennessee, covers a distance of 476 miles. With the Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah National Park, it provides 573 miles of scenic parkway extending from Front Royal, Virginia, to Cherokee, North Carolina.
- ↑ The Eastern Parks and Forests District headquarters became BPR’s Region 15 in 1957.
The Blue Ridge Parkway winds along the crest of the mountains.
The Blue Ridge Parkway in the fall.
The James River Bridge on the Blue Ridge Parkway has a pedestrian walkway beneath the motor vehicle deck.
Most of the parkway is above 3,000 feet. It does not drop below 2,000 feet except for a few river crossings, such as the James, Roanoke, and French Broad Rivers. Sections of the parkway near Mount Mitchell, North Carolina, and on the Pisgah Ridge rise above 5,000 feet.
By the end of 1939, 47 miles had been surfaced and an additional 87 miles graded, drained, and gravel-base constructed on the Blue Ridge Parkway. An additional 170 miles were under construction.[37][38]
After World War II, work was resumed on the Blue Ridge Parkway. By 1975 the Blue Ridge Parkway was complete except for a short gap near Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina.
The Natchez Trace Parkway
In 1934 Congress passed an act directing the study of an additional parkway, the Natchez Trace Parkway, to follow, as nearly as possible, the original route of the old Natchez Trace.[39] The Natchez Trace was one of the early important Indian Trails, extending from the Cumberland River at Nashville in a southwest course through the Chickasaw and Choctaw Indian lands near Jackson, Mississippi, to Natchez, Mississippi.
As early as 1798, Governor Winthrop Sargent of the Mississippi Territory was urging the construction of a post road to the Natchez District, and in 1801 and 1802 treaties made with the Chickasaw and Choctaw Nations permitted construction of a wagon road through their lands. This old Natchez Trace was used by the early pioneers who rafted their produce from the Ohio and Cumberland River valleys via the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans and then returned over the Trace to their homes.[40] It was also an important military route for General Andrew Jackson’s army of Tennessee volunteers during the war of 1812.[41] Today the Natchez Trace Parkway extends approximately 455 miles and is about 75 percent completed.
The George Washington Memorial Parkway, the Blue Ridge Parkway, and the Natchez Trace Parkway are covered here to show what is involved in establishing a national parkway. One additional parkway should be mentioned.
In 1930 Congress passed an act establishing a Colonial National Monument of the area which includes Jamestown Island, the 1607 site of the first permanent English settlement, and Yorktown, the scene of the culminating battle of the American Revolution in 1781. The Act also authorized the Secretary of the Interior to examine the feasibility of a parkway through the monument.
The Colonial Parkway, covering 23 miles from Yorktown to Jamestown Island via Williamsburg, Virginia, was opened to traffic in time for the 350th anniversary celebration of the founding of Jamestown.
Defense Access Roads
During the years of World War II, the normal construction of all highways was stopped, and many employees engaged in this work entered war service. A large contingent of direct Federal construction employees, particularly in the western districts, were assigned to the construction of the Alaska Highway. Others were engaged in the construction of roads to war establishments such as the Indian Head Access Road to the Naval Powder Factory and the military highway to Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, which was later transferred to the National Park Service and renamed the Suitland Parkway. But aside from the Alaska Highway project, the biggest highway project undertaken during the years of the war was the building of the road system servicing the new War Department building constructed in Arlington, Virginia.
The Pentagon Road Network
In the summer of 1941, Congress appropriated $35 million to be used by the War Department for the construction of a new office building, now known as the Pentagon. The building was to provide office space for 40,000 workers, and in addition, other defense installations were planned in the immediate vicinity. The War Department requested the Federal Works Agency to undertake the layout and design and to supervise the construction of the highway network to service the new War Department building.
The Natchez Trace Parkway in Mississippi.
The inadequacy of roads approaching the Potomac River bridges crossing from Virginia to Washington, D.C., had been a matter of increasing concern for many years. For example, in January 1934, Chief MacDonald prepared a report on the situation for the National Capital Parks and Planning Commission. The report proposed a plan for a system of arterial highways to be used as a basis for a progressive program of improvements. Through the years, little was accomplished toward these objectives, and by 1941 the traffic flow across the Memorial, Key, and 14th Street bridges had reached an average daily total of 118,000 vehicles, with an hourly peak flow close to 11,000 vehicles.
The request from the War Department required the best design and planning engineers available. A special design section was established in the Public Roads Administration’s headquarters. Engineers were assembled from field offices to work on the largest single design project ever undertaken by Public Roads up to that time.
The design problem was superimposing a new high traffic volume created by the new government office buildings on an already congested road system. The location of the existing bridges across the Potomac River, the proximity of Arlington Cemetery, the necessity of connecting the principal highways, and the requirement that the design be functional as well as esthetically compatible, posed formidable problems.
Coincident with the studies for the Pentagon network, the Virginia Department of Highways conducted studies for a new highway from Woodbridge, Virginia, to Arlington, to bypass Alexandria and connect with the Potomac River bridges. (This highway today is known as the Henry G. Shirley Memorial Highway.)
In September 1942, agreement was reached that the portion of the Shirley Highway from an interchange with Virginia Route 7 to the connection with the Pentagon network would be certified by the War Department as a defense access road project, and the Public Roads Administration was directed to build it. Responsibility for construction of the two projects was assigned to Region 15, Eastern Parks and Forests Roads. The work was completed in 1952.[42] The Pentagon network today is a part of I-95 and has been reconstructed with some new alinement under the Interstate program.
Access Roads for the Bureau of Land Management
In 1949 the Interior Department Appropriation Act for 1950 provided for construction of access roads on and to grant lands that had been returned to the Federal Government in the early 1900’s. These lands, known as “O & C lands,” were under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and in 1950 a Memorandum of Agreement was drawn up between BLM and BPR identifying responsibilities for the work. The Interior Department Appropriation Act for 1951 directed that funds be turned over to BPR.
The Suitland Parkway near Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland.
The O & C lands were originally two separate land grants. The first was the Oregon and California Railroad grant in 1866 for a railroad from Portland to the California border consisting of odd numbered sections on each side of the road location for a 20-mile wide strip. In 1869 limitations were imposed that the land could be sold only to bona fide settlers and that not more than 160 acres at not more than $2.50 per acre could be sold to any one person. However, the conditions of the grant were violated, and in 1915 the Supreme Court enjoined the Company from further disposition of lands. About 2.9 million acres were returned to the Federal Government in 1916. The other piece of land was granted in 1868 to the Southern Oregon Company for a wagon road between Coos Bay and Roseburg consisting of three alternate sections per mile in a strip 3 miles on either side of the wagon road location. When this land was returned in 1919 for similar reasons, the Federal Government reclaimed 93,000 acres.[43]
The Nestucca River Road in the Oregon Coast Range was improved in 1967 for use as a timber access road, but it has become an area also used for recreational purposes.
The O & C lands are located in the Coast Range and on the western slope of the Cascades in Oregon and contain very valuable and productive timber lands. At the time of the 1950 agreement, the O & C lands were essentially unroaded and isolated. The roads designed and constructed under BPR supervision made these lands accessible for timber production.
The major impact of the road construction was the improvement in the local economy stimulated by the logging operations. Timber available for sale went from 500 million board feet in 1937 to 1.2 billion board feet presently available, or about 3 percent of the Nation’s total production. In addition, receipts for fiscal year 1976 were $118 million, of which 50 percent is returned to the 18 counties for such uses as roads, schools, public works, and other needs of the counties. The Treasury Department receives 25 percent of the remainder and BLM uses the other 25 percent to manage the lands.[44]
Funds transferred to BPR for design and construction have ranged from an initial $550,000 for fiscal year 1951 to $11.6 million for fiscal year 1975. Since 1954 BPR has also been responsible for the performance of the maintenance work on these roads. To date, BPR has constructed 4,900 miles of one- and two-lane roads on the O & C lands. Although initially developed as timber access roads, most of the roads are open to the public, and recreational use of these roads has increased substantially in recent years.
Demonstration Projects Program
In 1969 a Demonstration Projects Program was established in Region 15 with the objective of promoting, by demonstration, the application of new technology as it applied to highway location, design, construction, maintenance, and operation. This program was to reestablish one of the most successful programs initiated by the original Office of Road Inquiry in 1897 and carried on as a major program effort for many years thereafter—the construction of “object lesson roads” and the conduct of demonstration programs. This program was established in Region 15 because this office had experienced most every type of highway construction under a wide range of field conditions and because the Region 15 project personnel included competent practicing highway engineers and technicians who could communicate readily with their counterparts in the FHWA headquarters R and D and field offices and State transportation agencies.
Since the establishment of the Demonstration Projects Program, many successful demonstration projects have been carried out. Particularly noteworthy was the construction on the grounds of Dulles Airport in 1972 of one of the first prestressed reinforced concrete pavements and the construction of a large parking lot in conjunction with the Transpo ’72 exhibition, using a calcium sulphate sludge and fly ash as a base stabilization product.
The Chaco Wash Bridge on the Navajo Indian Reservation in New Mexico was built by agreement for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Note the rock and wire channel protection in the right foreground.
The Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge on I-495, the Capital Beltway, crosses the Potomac River south of Washington, D.C.
In 1974–75 a program for detecting the premature deterioration of reinforced concrete highway bridge decks as a result of using deicing salts became available for demonstration. It was a two-part project, the initial project being a series of evaluation techniques to determine the degree of damage already occurring in the bridge deck and the second project demonstrated an electrical method to stop the corrosion of reinforcing steel occurring in the bridge deck.
Erosion along highway rights-of-way, particularly at major drainage structures, has presented the highway engineer with numerous design, construction, and maintenance problems. These problems exist because the construction of a highway system often disrupts, and in many instances alters, natural drainage networks. This disruption and alteration generally results in high velocity flow within highway drainage structures. While this is desirable from the standpoint of carrying large volumes of runoff in relatively small structures, it frequently leads to serious erosion problems. A demonstration project was established to educate and train highway engineers on the proper selection and design of a broad range of flow control devices which serve to dissipate the hydraulic energy.
Two other demonstration projects expected to benefit State agencies in cost-effectiveness planning are the demonstration of noise measurement techniques, equipment systems, data interpretation, and the demonstration of air quality monitoring devices. By the requirements of the 1970 Federal-Aid Highway Act, noise level standards and air quality guidelines were developed. The demonstration projects make known to the State agencies the equipment available to make necessary measurements, techniques for analyzing the data and projecting the impact of planned construction projects, and to assist the States in selecting the equipment suitable to their particular needs based on cost/benefit.
The Demonstration Projects Program attempts to touch on every aspect of concern within the highway industry. In addition to the five projects above, the Demonstration Program included demonstrations on safety (High Performance and Energy Absorbing Bridge Rails), waste materials (Discarded Tires in Highway Construction), conservation of natural resources (Recycling Asphalt Pavements), public education (Highway Photomontage) to translate the technical information of highway planning and design so that the community can become knowledgeably involved, design (Automated Design System), and many other features, concepts and techniques.
The success of any program is its measure of effectiveness in terms of real world results. Just as the object lesson roads of the early days of the Federal Highway Administration broadcast the knowledge available and how to do it with the materials at hand for cost/benefit, so also is the purpose of today’s Demonstration Projects Program. The long-range objective of both efforts is a more economical environmentally acceptable transportation system for the good of the country. A Program to Enrich the Quality of Life
In addition to the work performed for the Forest Service, the National Park Service, the War Department, and the Bureau of Land Management, the Federal Highway Administration has standing agreements with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, in the Department of the Interior, and with several other agencies to construct roads on lands under their jurisdictions upon request.
An interesting project developed when, in 1956, Congress directed that the Bureau of Public Roads should build the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge. This 5,900-foot bridge across the Potomac Eiver is a vital link in the Capital Beltway around Washington, D.C. Region 15 supervised the construction of the bridge because the bridge involved three governmental jurisdictions — Virginia, the District of Columbia, and Maryland. The Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge was opened to traffic in 1961.
The Federal Highway Administration has, for a continuous span of 70 years, contributed its highway engineering expertise to the planning, location, design, and construction of roads in the Federal domain for other government agencies. The many beautiful highways and parkways constructed under this program are a legacy for future generations to enjoy as they continue to serve the transportation system in the national forests and parks and other Federal domain areas.
In 1973, citizens visited the national forests and national park system areas in record numbers—188 million visitor-days in national forests and 215 million visits to national park system areas. These figures speak for themselves in rating the contribution the direct Federal highway program has made to enriching the quality of life for our Nation.
REFERENCES
- ↑ R. Lee, Family Tree of the National Park Service (Eastern National Park and Monument Association, Philadelphia, 1972) p. 9.
- ↑ Public Roads Administration, Report to the Committee On Roads, House of Representatives, Forest Highway System (Federal Works Agency, Washington, D.C, 1940) p. 2.
- ↑ Bureau of Public Roads Annual Report, 1906, p. 23; 1907, p. 21.
- ↑ Bureau of Public Roads Annual Report, 1916, pp. 5, 6.
- ↑ A. Loder, The Location and Building of Roads in the National Forests, Public Roads, Vol. 1, No. 4, Aug. 1918, p. 7.
- ↑ Id., p. 5.
- ↑ L. Hewes, Federal Road Building in the National Forests of the West, Public Roads, Vol. 3, No. 26, Jun. 1920, p. 18.
- ↑ Bureau of Public Roads Annual Report, 1921, p. 20.
- ↑ Bureau of Public Roads Annual Report, 1929, pp. 37, 38.
- ↑ Bureau of Public Roads Annual Report, 1939, pp. 62, 63.
- ↑ U.S. Department of Agriculture, Annual Report of the Forester (GPO, Washington, D.C, 1932) p. 23.
- ↑ Forest Lands of the United States, S. Doc. 32, 77th Cong., 1st Sess., p. 9.
- ↑ Bureau of Public Roads Annual Report, 1948, pp. 24, 35.
- ↑ Bureau of Public Roads Annual Report, 1949, p. 38.
- ↑ Bureau of Public Roads, Report On the Forest Highway Study Required By Section 3(b) of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1958 (Dept. of Commerce, Washington, D.C, 1960) pp. 1, 2.
- ↑ Id., p. 2.
- ↑ A. Loder, supra, note 5, pp. 11, 12.
- ↑ B. O’Brien, The Yellowstone National Park Road System: Past, Present and Future (unpublished dissertation, University of Washington, 1965) p. 10.
- ↑ Id., pp. 81, 96–102.
- ↑ Memorandum of Agreement Between the National Park Service and the Bureau of Public Roads Relating to the Survey, Construction, and Improvement of Roads and Trails in the National Parks and National Monuments, Jan.–Feb. 1926.
- ↑ S. Mather, Report of the Director of the National Park Service, Annual Report of the Department of the Interior, 1924 (GPO, Washington, D.C, 1924) p. 14.
- ↑ B. O’Brien, supra, note 18, p. 125.
- ↑ S. Mather, Report of the Director of the National Park Service, Annual Report of the Department of the Interior, 1925 (GPO, Washington, D.C, 1925) p. 65.
- ↑ S. Mather, Report of the Director of the National Park Service, Annual Report of the Department of the Interior, 1923 (GPO, Washington, D.C, 1923) p. 14.
- ↑ U.S. Department of the Interior, Final Report of the Southern Appalachian National Park Commission to the Secretary of the Interior, June 30, 1931 (GPO, Washington, D.C, 1931) p. 8.
- ↑ T. MacDonald, The Bureau of Public Roads and Its Work (BPR, Washington, D.C, June 1930) pp. 42, 43.
- ↑ Id., pp. 40–42.
- ↑ R. Lee, supra, note 1, pp. 21–35.
- ↑ BPR, supra, note 10, pp. 63, 64.
- ↑ B. Smith, The Story of the Skyline Drive, The Virginia Road Builder, Vol. I, No. 4, Nov. 1945, pp. 11, 12 ; Vol. I, No. 5, Jan. 1946, pp. 6–8; Vol. I, No. 6, Mar. 1946, pp. 8, 9; Vol. II, No. 1, May–Jun. 1946, pp. 8, 9; Vol. II, No. 2, Jul.–Aug. 1946, pp. 8–11 ; Vol. II, No. 3, Sept.–Oct. 1946, pp. 10, 11.
- ↑ Bureau of Public Roads Annual Report, 1949, p. 105.
- ↑ R. Lee, supra, note 1, p. 38.
- ↑ E. James, Parkway Features of Interest to the Highway Engineer, Public Roads, Vol. 10, No. 2, Apr. 1929, pp. 21, 22.
- ↑ J. Reavis, Mount Vernon Avenue, A National Memorial Highway From Washington to Mount Vernon (Mount Vernon Avenue Association, Washington, D.C, 1888) pp. 4–7.
- ↑ R. Toms & J. Johnson, The Design and Construction of the Mount Vernon Memorial Highway, Journal of the American Concrete Institute, Vol. 3, No. 8, Apr. 1932. p. 563.
- ↑ H. Jolley, The Blue Ridge Parkway (University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville, 1969) pp. 12, 13.
- ↑ H. Spelman, Design and Construction Features of the Blue Ridge Parkway, Roads and Streets, Vol. 79, No. 7, Jul. 1936, pp. 27, 28.
- ↑ H. Spelman, Tunnels and Bridges Solve Difficult Location Problems on 476-Mile Blue Ridge Parkway, Civil Engineering, Vol. 17, No. 7, Jul. 1947, p. 20.
- ↑ Natchez Trace Parkway Survey, S. Doc. No. 148, 76th Cong., 3d Sess., pp. v, 150.
- ↑ Id., pp. 26, 31, 32.
- ↑ Id., pp. 82, 83, 85.
- ↑ F. Cron, Appendix A, Statement of Historical Reference Relating to the Development of the Pentagon Road System and the Connecting Shirley Memorial Highway, Oct. 24, 1960, unpublished appendix to Pentagon Area Transportation Study (BPR, Washington, D.C, 1961).
- ↑ Information from unpublished material in the Division of Forestry in the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Department of the Interior.
- ↑ Interview with Robert Bainbridge of the Division of Forestry in the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Department of the Interior.