THE DESIGN OF THE HIGHWAY 205 



Now, the other thing, the other matter there is an impression 

 here that the Federal Government is putting bulldozers out, that Mr. 

 Whitton is doing this. It is not true. The Federal Government 

 does not initiate a single highway project. Under the law it can't. 

 The initiation is with the States. The recommendation is made by 

 the States. If you don't like what your States are doing, argue 

 with your State, not with Mr. Whitton who has plenty of arguments 

 from us as administrators. 



IRSTON R. BARNES. I would like to express my distrust of highway 

 engineers. 



And I should also like to dissent from the commissioner's last 

 statement. There hasn't been a single park in Washington that 

 hasn't been threatened with a highway. It is much easier to build 

 a highway than it is to build a park. You don't build parks. Nature 

 does that. The most important thing that this panel could recom- 

 mend would be to have a set of values which would guide the loca- 

 tion of highways and it should begin by recognizing that no high- 

 way improves the beauty of a natural landscape. It is an intrusion. 

 We should recognize it as such. 



Now, these are perhaps unpleasant truths, but I think these are 

 the truths that represent the public point of view as opposed to the 

 engineer's point of view. I should like to see the public's point of 

 view at least acknowledged in the report of this panel. 



Statements Submitted for the Record 



IRSTON R. BARNES. The appropriate uses of scenic easements 

 and zoning require more critical consideration than was accorded 

 these items during the conference. 



The scenic easement must not become a blackmail device in the 

 hands of those who would appropriate for private profit the values 

 created by public investment. 



These comments are particularly pertinent in relation to new 

 dimensions of billboard blight along parkways and other highways 

 with respect to which public policy has determined that there shall 

 be no billboards. 



The contempt of the outdoor advertising industry for public policy 

 and public values is exemplified by new huge billboards erected on 

 steel scaffolding above the treetops. They have been placed beyond 

 the highway rights-of-way. Examples of such flagrant disregard of 



