Published February 1962 — Download PDF of the original newspaper column
From the Office of UNITED STATES SENATOR ROBERT C. BYRD Room 342, Old Senate Office Building, Washington 25, D. C. Volume II -- Number 6 2-9-62 BYRD' EYE VIEW A Public Service Column by U. S. SENATOR ROBERT C. BYRD INTERSTATE ROAD SYSTEM TO HELP WEST VIRGINIA ECONOMICALLY Ten years from now, by 1972, West Virginia will have over 520 miles of new interstate highways coursing through its hills and valleys. These roads will link many of our cities for the first time with safe and efficient means of transportation. By doing so, they will spur the economic growth of our State. There are few better ways to stimulate industrial and economic growth in West Virginia than to provide for the swift movement of ,our products for trans-shipment throughout the country, and to all parts of the world. There also are few better ways to bring tourists to our areas of superb natural beauty. The United States is a nation on wheels. Among our 185 million people there are 90 million drivers who operate 76 million automobiles, trucks and buses on 3 1/2 million miles of roads and streets. In fact, there is a vehicle for every 2 ½ persons, and 22 vehicles for every mile of road. In 1961, these 76 million vehicles traveled an estimated 736 billion miles in our cities, suburban and rural areas. By 1976, when the U. S. population may reach 230 million, there will be over 113 million motor vehicles on our streets and roads, and they are expected to travel more than 1.2 trillion miles that year. Thus, the straighter, stronger, wider, and safer we can make our roads in West Virginia, the more we can benefit from vehicular traffic. For the interstate road system, of which our 520 miles will be a part, will total 41,000 miles and link together more than 90 per cent of the Nation's cities having populations of 50,000 or more, as well as many smaller cities and towns. West Virginians have paid dearly for the inadequate roads in our State -- not just in frazzled nerves and inconvenience, and in time and gasoline wasted, but in the prices of everything we buy and sell. We have also paid in the number of lives lost on our often narrow, twisting, and sharply turning roads. The new interstate roads in our State will not only make possible cheaper transportation costs by motor vehicles; they will also substantially reduce accidents. Because of the safety feature built into interstate roads, the accident rates on those roads already built are one-third of those on other roads with comparable traffic. In all, the interstate road system will promote the general welfare of West Virginia. And this is sufficient unto itself. --30--