188 CONFERENCE ON NATURAL BEAUTY 



levels of government as well as private enterprise must join forces 

 to effect complete redevelopment. This should involve building 

 on the air rights over freeways as well as the rebuilding of areas 

 around them. Freeways can then take the lead in generating amenity 

 in a city in the new or rebuilt areas by having parks and playgrounds 

 pass under them, new structures built over them. Ultimately it is 

 the design of the environment of a freeway which counts for more 

 than the actual structure itself. 



7. Freeways must be developed as only a part of a total trans- 

 portation program in which mass transit and other techniques for 

 limiting further car traffic must be established, including the very 

 real possibility that no more freeways should be designed. 



Mr. PUSHKAREV. Over 60 percent of the interstate system is now 

 completed or under construction. Thus, unless we want to write 

 off the appearance of the bulk of our freeways, some retroactive 

 measures must be considered. Aside from a major expansion of 

 billboard control to attack the real eyesores in urbanized and com- 

 mercial areas, and aside from expanding the principle of limited 

 access to suburban local arterials, both of which are covered by 

 different panels, a commitment to rectify some past omissions would 

 mean: 



1. Additional right-of-way acquisition, particularly in growing 

 suburban and resort areas, to guarantee, wherever development per- 

 mits, a 150-foot minimum buffer zone between the edge of shoulder 

 and the taking line. 



2. Correction of awkward grading through generous rounding 

 and warping of slopes, flatter embankments, and a substitution, 

 wherever median width and climate permit, of planted earth berms 

 and similar devices for metal barriers. 



3. Encouragement of native vegetation on the roadside and more 

 generous artificial landscaping of prominent areas, particularly near 

 urban interchanges. This would utilize upward slopes or down- 

 slopes protected by guardrails, to bring tree growth closer to the road 

 and break the monotony of the wide swath. 



On freeways whose location and geometric design are not yet 

 finalized more fundamental improvements are possible via essen- 

 tially three avenues of approach. The first is a vigorous infusion 

 of aesthetic considerations into design standards for alignment and 

 profile. This would include, on rural and suburban freeways, the 

 use of longer vertical curves, the encouragement of spiral transitions, 



