SCENIC ROADS AND PARKWAYS 223 



tunity to enjoy this asset plus the economic return from restoring 

 that asset will repay many times over the cost. 



We are not only talking about pollution, but of a total conserva- 

 tion program. Our time is short. The job is big but the course 

 is right and the people are ready to support it. 



Mrs. REYNOLDS. I would like to say a little bit about the special 

 problems in regard to scenic highways as they face States such as 

 California. Such States have very large areas, so that the highway 

 systems are of a tremendous mileage, they have an unusually high 

 rate of population increase, and are often, at least in some parts, 

 characterized by a very stubborn insistence on home rule. These 

 three characteristics bring about certain problems to which I would 

 like to suggest a few approaches. 



In the first place, the population expansion which is very great in 

 some of our western States is, of course, resulting in the gobbling up, 

 at a very rapid rate, of open spaces including the corridors of high- 

 ways which run through scenic areas. 



In the second place, the increase in population brings about a con- 

 stant pressure on highway officials to give more lanes for more traffic 

 in a hurry. Where a two-lane meandering road is going to have to 

 be improved to carry more traffic, there is a tendency to improve it 

 by making it into at least the first half of a freeway. In other words, 

 reengineering it, reconstructing it according to freeway specifications 

 which means 65 miles or 75 miles an hour traffic flow. That may or 

 may not be all right. If it is a scenic highway, thought should be 

 given to whether the special qualities that are inherent in the 

 meandering road will be completely destroyed by converting it into 

 half a freeway, to be made later into a whole freeway. 



In the third place, there is reluctance on the part of highway 

 officials, for the reasons which Senator Nelson has mentioned, to 

 spend any of the Federal funds which are available for aesthetic 

 development. In many cases there is also a lack of understanding 

 and training in aesthetic principles on the part of highway officials. 



Now, just to suggest a few of the approaches to these problems. 

 First of all, Senator Nelson has mentioned ways of bringing about the 

 use of the highway funds which are available. I think that has a 

 great deal of importance. 



We might, to very good advantage, make funds unavailable to any 

 State which has on its books laws which militate against a reasonable 

 approach to the aesthetic development of highways, or to the rea- 



