328 CONFERENCE ON NATURAL BEAUTY 



industries. Currently, their combined production is about 1J/2 bil- 

 lion tons annually. It is anticipated, on the basis of trends since 

 the close of World War II, that by 1970 production will be some- 

 where between 1 % and 2 billion tons annually. By far the largest 

 portions of these minerals are used for concrete for all types of 

 structures; for bases; slabs and surfaces of highways and streets; 

 and for the repair and resurfacing of highways and streets. While 

 they are of fairly wide occurrence, many deposits are not suitable 

 for construction use because of poor quality, nonresistance to weather- 

 ing or traffic abrasion, or because of unsuitable gradation. 



Sand, gravel, and stone used as construction aggregates must be 

 produced near the points of use as they are heavy-loading, low-value 

 materials. The average length of haul by rail is about 80 miles; 

 the average length of haul by water is about 35 miles; hauls by 

 truck, now accounting for about 80 percent of the transportation of 

 these commodities, rarely exceed 30 to 35 miles. The major portion 

 of production must of necessity occur within or on the fringes of 

 metropolitan areas where construction is concentrated. 



The competition for land in such areas has become, without ques- 

 tion, the most serious problem faced by a majority of the commercial 

 producers of aggregates, and the situation can only become increas- 

 ingly critical. Mr. Dennis O'Harrow, Executive Director of the 

 American Society of Planning Officials, in an address to the National 

 Sand & Gravel Association entitled, "The Urban Future," projected 

 that the 1 00 million people expected to be added to our urban popu- 

 lation in about the next 30 years will need urban facilities equivalent 

 to 2 */2 to 3 times the present facilities of the well-known "megalop- 

 olis" extending along the eastern seaboard from Boston to Wash- 

 ington. He further said : 



To get quantitative about land : our experience shows that for each 

 person added to the population of an urban area, about one-quarter 

 acre is converted from nonurban to urban use. For our basic 100 

 million (additional) urban population we shall need 57,500 square 

 miles of land, slightly more land than there is in the entire State of 

 Illinois. 



Some projections of sand and gravel demand, which I believe 

 to be reasonable, have indicated that, whereas production from the 

 close of World War II to the present has totaled a little over 7.1 

 billion tons, demand could total nearly 10/ 2 billion tons in the next 

 ten years, and an additional 14 billion tons in the succeeding ten 



