of Governor Herbert R. O'Conor 283

greater capacity to connect Baltimore City with Washington and also to con-
nect Annapolis with Washington.

In addition to the matters involving the construction and building of roads
and bridges, and the planning for additional roads and bridges, the State has
recently taken steps to acquire the Claiborne-Annapolis Ferry, connecting the
Eastern and Western, Shores of our State, to be operated as an integral part
of our roads system. This purchase already has been conditionally approved,
subject to the passage by the General Assembly of legislation which will make
possible the reduction of rates and improvement of service.

When we realized that Federal funds due the State were in jeopardy we
immediately set up a priority schedule of Federal Aid Projects, which included
twenty-one projects that had to be under project agreement by June 30th, 1940.
These projects involved approximately two million dollars of Federal money
with the matching of State funds for the primary and secondary programs. The
total of the projects which had to be put under construction amounted to nearly
$3, 500, 000, of which $630, 000 was grade-elimination projects, which the State
was not required to match. The financial position of the State Roads Commis-
sion of Maryland is, I believe, better than it has been for a number of years
past, and its accomplishment in adding more mileage of improved highways and
modern facilities to the System of Roads, consisting of high type trunk high-
ways and bridges and other major road system facilities, has improved the
State System noticeably.

Due to the preparation of the Budget applicable to the fiscal year 1940, and
following the promise previously made that no road funds would be diverted
to other road purposes, the receipts from gasoline taxes and from fees paid to
the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles, have increased vastly compared with
previous years. The increased gasoline tax and other road incomes have done
much to benefit the road systems of the State, of the Counties, and the City
of Baltimore has received considerably more money for street improvements.
These increases pledged to the betterment of the Road Systems, have enabled
a higher standard of road maintenance with respect to the State System of
Roads and on those roads comprising the County Systems, as well as the con-
struction of new projects.

During the year 1939, 110. 18 miles of newly constructed roadways were
added to the State System of roads, and during 1940 there were placed under
contract for construction, additional projects which will add 87. 68 miles of roads
to the State System. These projects do not express with any degree of exact-
ness, the total accomplishments on improved roadways of the State System, for
during the past two years many miles of additional roadways were resurfaced
and widened by the State Roads Commission forces and by the award of con-
tracts for this type of improvement.

The Commission, through its policy of constructing or reconstructing
portions of its roadways by the employment of WPA labor forces, has recon-
structed and widened 97. 35 miles of highways in various locations in the
Counties of the State. Projects of betterments of this kind are considered
essential, both from the viewpoint of relieving the unemployment situation in
several sections of the State, as well as the accomplishment of much needed
road improvement on those sections of the highways selected for work of this
character.