for the first time in a dual role, not only as Director of Highways for the District of Columbia, but also as president of that great organization, the American Road Builders' Association, which has made such a fine contribution to this committee in the past. Mr. McGREGOR. Will the gentleman yield? Mr. FALLON. Yes. Mr. McGREGOR. I would like to pay my respects to the president of the American Road Builders' Association and his very efficient staff. When we want information and we ask them for it, we get it. They are honest and certainly impartial, with no politics involved. I cannot help but make an observation that one of the familiar faces is not with us this morning. I know he is with us in spirit and I am sure the spirit and feeling of this entire committee is with Tommy Keefe today. Tom is ill and we understand he is getting much better. We look forward to his returning to your organization and your organization again coming forward before this committee with Tom Keefe. Mr. FALLON. I would also like to make an observation, Mr. Robertson, that you have to your left General Reybold, who has been before this committee many times, first as Chief of the Army Engineers and secondly as a man who has been interested in roads for many years as executive vice president of the American Road Builders' Association. Mr. DONDERO. Permit me to echo everything that has been said about your organization, especially Tom Keefe, and General Reybold. As one of the older members of this committee, I am personally familiar with and know the record of these gentlemen. STATEMENT OF J. N. ROBERTSON, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN ROAD BUILDERS' ASSOCIATION, ACCOMPANIED BY LT. GEN. EUGENE REYBOLD, UNITED STATES ARMY, RETIRED, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT; AND BURTON F. MILLER, COUNSEL AND ASSISTANT TO THE EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT Mr. ROBERTSON. Gentlemen, I feel very highly honored to hear three eminent members of this committee compliment the road builders. We will always stand ready to help this committee or any committee interested in building roads throughout the United States. We would be glad at any time to offer our services to the chairman or any member of this committee. Mr. FALLON. Do you mind sitting down, Mr. Robertson? I think the microphone is a little closer to you that way. Mr. ROBERTSON. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, on behalf of our association, I am honored to hear these compliments paid to the American Road Builders. I have with me this morning Lt. Gen. Eugene Reybold, executive vice president of the American Road Builders' Association, and Mr. Burton F. Miller, assistant to General Reybold and staff counsel of the American Road Builders' Association. Mr. Chairman, I wish to compliment you and the distinguished Members of Congress on this committee on the excellence of the hearings which you are about to conclude. Your committee has rendered a conscientious public service to the whole Nation by your dispassionate and objective examination of the facts involved in the preparation of legislation to provide an accelerated national highway program. The American Road Builders' Association appreciates this opportunity to contribute. In keeping with the spirit and tempo of these hearings, I am going to make my observations brief and, I hope, to the point. The American Road Builders' Association has been represented before your committee at regular intervals since the borth of the Federalaid program nearly 40 years ago. As the only national association representing all segments of the highway industry and the engineering profession, we have always sought to present to you the collective judgment of the men who actually supply the machines, materials, knowledge and skill to build our roads. I wish to cover only four major points here today. They are all predicated on the assumption that there is a complete meeting of minds on the basic, urgent need for prompt and comprehensive improvement of the Nation's roads and streets. The four points that I shall take up briefly are: 1. Our association's findings on the ability of the highway industry to carry out a greatly expanded program. 2. Provisions for acquiring rights-of-way in the construction of the Interstate System. 3. The matter of including conditions of employment in highway legislation. 4. Suggestions relative to financing a new, enlarged program. ARBA "TASK FORCE" FINDINGS The American Road Builders' Association has this year concluded a detailed and painstaking study of the ability of the highway-construction industry to meet the requirements of a $101 billion program in 10 years, the program estimated to be necessary to modernize all of the Nation's roads. We set up four task forces of the Nation's top experts among the engineers, producers of materials and supplies, contractors, and manufacturers. Mr. Chairman, I ask permission to incorporate in the record the reports based on these studies. Mr. FALLON. With no objection, it is so ordered. (The reports referred to are as follows:) SUPPLEMENTARY DATA IN SUPPORT OF TESTIMONY BY J. N. ROBERTSON, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN ROAD BUILDERS' ASSOCIATION Reports of four Task Forces of the American Road Builders' Association on the ability of the engineering profession and the highway industry to carry out a $101 billion highway program in 10 years. AN EVALUATION OF THE ABILITY AND READINESS OF THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION AND THE HIGH MAY INDUSTRY TO PLAN, DESIGN, AND EXECUTE A PROGRAM TO ELIMINATE THE $101 BILLION DEFICIENCIES IN THE NATION'S HIGHWAYS IN A PERIOD OF 10 YEARS PREPARED BY THE AMERICAN ROAD BUILDERS' ASSOCIATION WASHINGTON, D. C. REPORT OF TASK FORCE NO. 1-PLANNING AND DESIGN Hal G. Sours, chairman, consulting engineer, Columbus Ohio J. N. Robertson, director, Department of Highways, Washington, D. C. Ben H. Petty, professor of highway engineering, Purdue University, Lafayette, Ind. Warren A. Coolidge, director of public works, Nashville, Tenn. Otto S. Hess, engineer-manager, Kent County Road Commission, Grand Rapids, Rex M. Whitton, chief engineer, Missouri State Highway Department, Jefferson INTRODUCTION In pursuance of a resolution adopted by the ARBA board of directors on. September 14 as supplemented by instructions from ARBA headquarters, task force No. 1 is charged with the responsibility of investigating and reporting upon the ability and readiness of the engineering profession to plan and design a 10year $101 billion highway construction program and to evaluate problems pertinent thereto. The investigations are based on the current 1954 annual highway construction program of $4 billion being increased to $6 billion during the first year of a 10year program; to $8 billion in the second year; to $10 billion in the third year; and to $11 billion in the fourth and each of 6 successive years until the $101 billion highway deficiencies on the Nation's highways are eliminated. The $101 billion highway deficiencies reflect the following requirements: (1) Placing the National System of Interstate Highways in condition by the end of 1964 when all mileage then in service shall be structurally adequate and will meet geometric design standards for 1974 traffic conditions, and (2) placing all other systems of highways in a structurally and functionally adequate condition for 1964 traffic. The deficiencies may be classified into three broad categories: The first 2 classes of highways cover 17 percent of the Nation's mileage and carry 75 percent of the traffic. The secondary and other local rural roads cover 83 percent of the Nation's mileage and carry 25 percent of the traffic. There is. a large mileage in the latter category requiring improvements at an average of about $10,000 per mile and which does not generally involve major engineering problems. Many miles of the local road improvements can be accomplished on the basis of streamlined aerial photogrammetric surveys and abbreviated plans. The major engineering problems relate to urban expressways, local city streets, and primary rural roads on which 69 percent of the highway deficiencies exist. After deducting the cost of rights-of-way, which includes land acquisition, clearance and demolition costs, the remaining cost of correcting the deficiencies on the primary, rural, and urban highways and the local city streets is found to be about $60 billion. It is with this expenditure, a rate of about $6.0 billion a year, that major engineering problems may be associated. For comparative purposes, the $6.0 billion rate is about 140 percent more than the $2.5 billion construction rate in 1954, from which a deduction of right-of-way and local rural road construction costs has also been made. In 1920, there were 9 million registered vehicles in the United States; today there are 58 million vehicles registered and annual travel is over 500 billion, vehicle-miles. It is estimated by competent authorities that 20 years from now we will have at least 80 million motor vehicles. Since 1946, traffic has increased at the average rate of 30 billion vehicle-miles each year. This continuous increase in traffic volume discloses the need for planning and designing not only for the present-but for the future. Factors bearing upon the engineering problem are: Backlog of plans Lead-time requirements Availability of engineers (a) Professional engineers (b) Subprofessional employees System location Access limitation Right-of-way width and control Structures including grade separations Pavement loading design and vehicle characteristics BACKLOG OF PLANS In 1954 the State and Territorial highway departments had construction plans fully or partially completed for almost $6 billion worth of highway construction. In addition, the toll highway authorities have projects totaling nearly $10 billion under construction and in the development stage, practically all of which is being engineered by consulting firms. This work may be classified as follows: Toll roads under construction: Estimated cost of projects, in millions Connecticut, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia__ $3, 203 Toll roads authorized and ready to begin construction: Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Toll roads under preliminary planning stage: Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Total----- 3, 797 2,756 9,756 Also, the cities and counties which normally provide for a program of about $1 billion in road and street construction in a year have at least a year's plans on the shelf. This and other work, such as highway widening and resurfacing, for which little or no planning is necessary, could be promptly placed under construction. The value of highway work for which plans are wholly or partially complete is, therefore, over $16 billion. LEAD-TIME REQUIREMENTS The lead time in the development of main traffic expressways is extensive. One report discloses an estimated 54 months' elapsed time required for the planning, authorization, design, and construction of a $180 million, 298-mile toil road. This included 13 months for a traffic feasibility survey, and concurrently a 12-month period for alternate field surveys and cost estimates to determine the most economical location. To study the field reports, to prepare a prospectus for the sale of bonds and obtain the financing, and to actually design and construct the toll road, will require an additional 41 months. Assuming 2 years for actual construction, the lead-time requirement is about 30 months. Another report indicates that a total of 42 months was required to plan, design and construct a toll road. This report indicates a considerably lower lead time, 18 months. Current practices on Federal-aid projects also disclose that an average of 21 months' lead time elapses from the date funds are authorized to where materials and equipment can be actually utilized on a job site. On the average, 17 months are needed for programing and development of plans, 2 months for advertising and award of contracts, and another 2 months for the contractor to establish himself on the job site. In consideration of these lead-time requirements-18 to 30 months, it seems highly desirable that the development of an additional backlog of plans, particularly the plans for the National Interstate System, be initiated without delay. In brief, advance planning on a large scale should be initiated now. It is also desirable that an effort be made to reduce present lead-time requirements. AVAILABILITY OF ENGINEERS One of the major problems in expanding the highway program is the supply of engineering personnel. This problem, however, is not insurmountable and will be considered in two categories: (1) professional engineers and (2) subprofessional employees. (1) Professional engineers Investigations show that State highway departments use in the planning, désign, and supervision of highway construction, from 3 to 18 professional engineers per million dollars of construction work and that the average is about 8. This is a wide range and in the absence of a detail analysis of the varying conditions, it would seem that in some States, substantial increases in engineering productivity could be accomplished by present personnel. Using an average of 8, the $4 billion current construction program requires some 32,000 professional engineers. However, if the engineering manpower requirement could be reduced to an average of 4 engineers per million dollars, double the workload, $8 billion per year, could be accomplished. About onefourth of the State highway departments indicate that they can operate at or below this figure when the program level reaches $10 billion per year. Through close supervision and organizational streamlining, such a reduction in professional engineer requirements should not be too difficult. In many organizations, including highway departments, professional engineers with several years' experience are holding what are ordinarily considered as subprofessional positions. This is a wastage of talent and employees falling in this category should be moved up to professional positions and charged with greater responsibilities. Also, in a program of the size now contemplated, much greater use could be made of standard plans and specifications and the plans could be simplified by reducing the amount of detail. This would decrease the engineering effort and effect further savings in engineering personnel. It is probable that additional engineering capacity will become available from other fields in which the construction rate is declining. In this connection it is currently estimated that the industrial, railroad, and conservation and development construction rate will be $765 million lower in 1955 than in 1954. Since these classes of construction normally require a larger amount of engineering per dollar than highways, the decline should provide additional engineering capacity for at least $1 billion of highway construction. Greater use of county and municipal engineering staffs in handling engineering work on county roads and city streets is another potential source of capacity. The colleges and universities could supply a considerable number of graduate engineers if the future in highways be made sufficiently attractive. Of the engineer graduates available to industry in 1954, estimated to be 20,000 in number-about 20 percent were civil engineers. It is, therefore, estimated that 4,000 civil engineers became available for employment in 1954. If half of these civil engineers-1,000 for expansion and 1,000 for the replacement of retiring employees could be brought into highway engineering and given opportunity to obtain practical experience, the annual highway engineering capacity could be substantially increased provided, of course, the 1954 availability rate continues. To attract as many as 50 percent of the civil-engineering graduates into the highway engineering field would be a real task in itself and could only be accomplished by: (a) The establishment of highway engineering salaries in all grades in line with salaries in competitive fields of private industry. A young engineer's choice of employment depends as much on what salary he can expect throughout his years of continuous service as it does on the starting salary. (b) Providing for reasonably adequate job security, retirement benefits, and promotion possibilities. (c) Assurance of an opportunity to obtain experience necessary for full professional responsibility and full recognition of that professional status. The 10-year program now under consideration includes many large timeconsuming projects involving complicated features of design. Competent and experienced consultants are available for this class of engineering work and could be used to augment public-agency forces in the preparation of plans for such projects. As a standby source of capacity, our consulting firms are capable of filling any gaps in the planning and design of the expanded program. The Bureau of Public Roads, with little if any increase in personnel, is fully capable of coordinating, directing, and supervising the Federal interests in the proposed program. In summation and after a careful analysis of the situation, it seems clear that a sufficient amount of competent engineering capacity can be made available for the planning, designing, and supervising of a greatly expanded program of highway construction. 63235-55--53 |