that avoid these delays, and yet afford ample protection of the rights of private property owners. Where these methods obtain, the condemning public authority, following required preliminaries, simply files a plat and description of the property to be acquired, and after notice to the owner of such action the appropriation is complete and title to the property vests in the State. If offers of the condemner are then rejected, the former owner must file a claim for the value of the property with the State court, which makes an award after hearing all the evidence.
The Committee recommends the general adoption of procedure of this type, details of which are well exemplified by methods now being employed pursuant to the New York Grade Crossing Elimination Act, pertinent sections of which are included in appendix IV. In the absence of some such provision, development of the interregional system will inevitably be subject to long and costly delays and litigation, and public benefits of the needed facilities will meanwhile remain unrealized.
A classical illustration of the time that may thus be lost between the commencement of condemnation proceedings and the beginning of construction operations occurred in the widening of Woodward Avenue in Detroit. Delay of almost a year and a half was occasioned in this instance largely by the death of a juror, which invalidated the whole procedure and required a new trial to be instituted. The case cost the city of Detroit $100,000 and the public was deprived of the benefits that would have resulted from an early completion of the improvement. While other elements may have contributed to the delay, such as the very requirement of a unanimous verdict and determination of necessity by a cumbersome jury, indiscriminate adjournments and lack of supervision by the court, provision for early possession pending the action would have facilitated the completion of the project.
New versus widened old rights-of-way.—To convert existing highways to conformance with standards appropriate for the proposed interregional system will require much revision of alinement and in many sections a substantial widening of present rights-of-way. Where such required changes are numerous, the acquirement of entirely new right-of-way will generally be found cheaper than widening and correcting the right-of-way of the existing road. The latter course will involve large takings of property frontage, always the most expensive of land acquisitions, and usually will entail also a heavy cost in incidental damages. The former, by avoiding existing frontage, will usually result in lower total costs notwithstanding the severance damages that may be involved. For example, it was estimated that the cost of land for widening the Albany Post Road in Westchester County, N. Y., from 66 to 166 feet would have been over $792,000 per mile, while land for the Saw Mill River Parkway (of limited-access design) on entirely undeveloped new location and averaging 500 feet in width, cost only $138,600 per mile.
In and around cities the widening of existing rights-of-way is likely to be especially costly because of the high values usually attaching to urban street frontage and the improvements and structures characteristic of urban areas. For example, the widening of Ashland and Western Avenues and La Salle Street in Chicago cost more than a third of a million dollars per mile on the average for each additional
