THE DESIGN OF THE HIGHWAY 199 



or watering or spraying. That is a very desirable feature to the high- 

 way department which is responsible for the maintenance. 



A DELEGATE. I would like to ask Mr. Whitton a question. Those 

 of us who have been involved in the highway conservation and 

 design business in the last two years have been very powerfully struck 

 by one point that Mr. Pushkarev, who is a distinguished author, 

 raised in Man-Made America. That was in reviewing the trans- 

 actions of the Highway Research Board of the last 20 or 22 years, 

 he found that he can correct me if I am wrong something like 

 3 out of 900 articles dealt substantively with highway aesthetics. In 

 doing our own research in California we found examples of out- 

 standing design in other States. We even found some work that 

 Mr. Glarkeson did in New Hampshire several years ago. 



What can we foresee in the Bureau of Public Roads in terms of 

 research and development I mean in a R. & D. unit, rather than 

 in pavement loading and so forth? Can we see an enhanced effort 

 to carry forth the visual analysis that both Mr. Pushkarev and Mr. 

 Halprin have done elsewhere? 



Mr. WHITTON. You mean in regard to roadside plantings? 



A DELEGATE. I would like to see a little more fundamental ap- 

 proach than that. We have a lot of cosmetic treatment in California 

 and it hasn't made a difference. 



Mr. WHITTON. I take it you mean in regard to location and 

 design of the cross section. 



Well, I think that since I have been in this business a good long 

 time, I will say it again, you have seen a big improvement in road 

 location and in road design during the past ten years, let's say. 



I can recall when we established a road location by measuring 

 half-way between the fences along the road and that was our fore- 

 sight. But now, we establish road locations by aerial photography 

 and a very careful laying out and examination of the total topog- 

 raphy through the area, both from the air and from the ground. 

 As Mr. John Ryan has said, they even make checklists of things they 

 have in the area and things that they would like to save. 



Then, again, on the roadside design, I think you have seen, and 

 I suggest if you haven't that you drive from here to Fredericksburg, 

 Va. or to Frederick, Md., and you will see, at least in my judgment, 

 as fine a highway design as you will see in the country. It is inde- 

 pendent design, both vertical and horizontal. I personally think 



