56 Miracles Ahead! 



culties; blind crossings and reckless drivers, whose tribe seems 



to increase." 



Highway and traffic engineers, and radio experts, are going 

 to do something about these problems. More superhighways, 

 with underpasses and overpasses, will be built between large 

 cities. (These highways also will be widened at certain points 

 with landing strips for airplanes.) Crooked, narrow "bottle- 

 neck" streets in cities and towns will be straightened and 

 widened, and elevated highways will be built to speed up 

 city traffic. These jobs will cost a lot of money, but they will 

 be worth it. It is estimated that traffic snarls cost several mil- 

 lion dollars a year in New York City alone. The use of build- 

 ing roofs and basements for parking, an idea that has already 

 been tried out in some cities, will be generally adopted in the 

 future. No longer will street parking be permitted to cut the 

 efficiency of expensive streets by 50 per cent. 



The Radio Traffic Cop 



In a few years your car radio may have two receivers 

 one for your favorite dance band or news commentator and 

 the other for the radio traffic cop, who will patrol the roads 

 or be stationed at strategic spots. He will give you directions 

 via standard national highway frequency, warning you of an 

 accident down the road, a dangerous curve, a damaged bridge, 

 or a blind crossing. And in a few more years the traffic cop 

 may be hovering overhead in a helicopter to shepherd you 

 around traffic jams or road hazards. 



William S. Halstead, a New York City communications 

 engineer, believes that the automobile of the future will 

 emphasize safety in order to compete with low-cost airplanes. 

 "Auto makers," he said, "have made the car safe. The post- 

 war emphasis will be on making the driver safe. The most 

 likely method to be used will be highway radio broadcasts 



