City Highways.

[Music] the city your city and mine is growing larger day by day week by week and year by year this is true all across the land today more people than ever before live in and around [Music] cities in the process of growing up a city changes in many ways it faces problems that were never dreamed of just a few years ago one of the biggest problems is that of traffic the movement of cars and trucks street cars and buses all the many vehicles that carry people and goods in and around the metropolitan area most streets were built when the city was smaller and when there was much less traffic but today's world is a world on Wheels thousands of vehicles are now forced onto streets that were originally planned for a much smaller number City traffic would be hopelessly snarled if it were not for certain measures that have been taken to deal with the problem building wider streets and widening those of yesterday has helped the flow of traffic at certain busy intersections electrically controlled signals have helped they allow more traffic to flow on the busier streets during rush hours of the day doing away with left turns at some intersections has helped making some streets oneway streets is another way that has helped to keep City traffic on the move but of all the measures that have been taken in growing cities everywhere one stands out above all the others and that has been the building of entirely New Roads roads that are free of traffic signals and the delays caused on ordinary congested city streets sometimes these New Roads pass right through the city or sometimes they pass over it or even under or around it in certain parts of the country these modern roads are called freeways in other areas they're known as expressways or throughways or Parkways actually they're a kind of Highway a City Highway building a City highway is not an easy task building a road through open country is difficult enough but when the road must pass through often heavily congested areas the problems of planning and construction are multiplied many times like all great projects the plan for a City Highway begins in the minds of men in this case the highway Engineers they plann the proposed route first on paper there are many things to consider so that the highway will best serve the greatest number of people they take into account what kind of traffic the road will carry whether mostly Passenger cars or perhaps trucks they consider how much traffic there will be at what speed it can move with safety the number of lanes needed the number of entrance and exit roads they determine the best way to connect the suburbs with the city itself the route they plan seldom follows an existing Street it usually Cuts A New Path across the city often long blocks of buildings must be purchased to make way for the highway sometimes the buildings are torn down and just the US able materials are saved sometimes buildings are purchased by house moving companies each building sold to a new owner is lifted up off its foundation all water and gas pipes telephone and electric wires are disconnected then late at night when traffic is light it's moved across darkened city streets to a new location then an old building may become a new building in another part of town and so a path called the right of way is cleared to make room for the highway then come the road builders or contractors with our powerful machines the big rough job of creating a modern Highway where there was never a road before begins first the foundation for the road called the road bed is prepared along some parts of the right of way hilly places are leveled by Earth moving machines a fairly Flat Road free of sharp Hills and Valleys is a safer Road and this is one of the important considerations of planners and Builders alike [Music] and so the hills are scooped up one loaded a time and taken to the Low Places the builders will move a mountain if that's what it takes to do the job each section of the road might require a little different type of construction a lot of concrete is needed to build a bridge sometimes each load of concrete is funneled down into narrow openings in the wooden forms when the concrete dries and the forms are removed the bridge begins to take shape at other places pedestrian tunnels are constructed they'll allow people to pass safely under the highway in some places more dirt must be brought in to construct access roads the access roads will carry traffic on and off the City Highway [Music] so that the access road will rise up gently to the highway the slope is carefully graded with a bulldozzer then it's packed firm under tons of rolling [Music] weight when the work of preparing the road bed ends the job of Paving the road begins this is one of the final operations in building a City Highway [Music] for [Music] [Music] eventually a ribbon of concrete stretches across the city it takes a lot of men machines and money to build a highway but when it's completed it's all worthwhile for there are many benefits traffic moves along at a steadier Pace than on ordinary city streets when driers use the new road properly the many safety measures help reduce accidents as much as 80% in some cases Bridges and tunnels eliminate all cross traffic cars entering the City Highway are provided with access roads that do not disrupt the main flow of traffic important road signs are big and clear they're placed so that they could be seen from a distance allowing the motorist plenty of time to get into the proper lane all traffic enters and leaves the highway at the right hand side in some places the opposing Lanes of traffic are separated by a strip of ground or other barrier this greatly reduces the possibilities of head-on collisions pedestrian tunnels are another safety feature for motorists as well as people on foot most City highways are fenced off along their entire length this keeps people and animals off the busy road and out of danger all large projects require a lot of money the cost of building Metropolitan highways is met in most areas from the taxes which people pay in many parts of the country the taxes are collected at service stations from the sale of gasoline the motorists who use the highways help pay for them in this way when the motorist buys new license plates for his car part of the money is often used to help build highways through the cities in his state sometimes the motorist pays part of the cost with the money he puts into parking meters these are but a few of the many ways that money is raised to help build better highways better highways bring other benefits to Metropolitan communities today along many City highways people have built factories the materials needed at the factory and the goods produced there travel on such highways and these highways connect with other roads throughout the state and the nation hundreds of people who work in the factories depend on the same highways to get them to and from their [Music] jobs and as the city grows new communities spring up around it often people who live in one Community work in another once this was impossible but in many places today City highways provide people with the means of Rapid Transportation they are free to live outside the city and yet are able to work anywhere in the metropolitan area there are of course still more problems of City traffic to be solved as the city grows larger its problems grow larger as well in many ways [Music] more City highways will be built in the future that is certain for today this is a world on Wheels new and perhaps better ways of controlling increased traffic will be discovered ways that are yet to be thought of by tomorrow's planners and builders