the Commission should be appointed from the State at large, should
be the Chairman of the State Roads Commission and also the Director
of Highways for the State of Maryland and should be required to
devote full time to the duties of the office.

The Chairman and the Director of Highways should have exclusive
jurisdiction and control over the location, construction, geometries
and design of the highways that embrace the Interstate System and
the main system of highways, commonly known as the Primary
System. He will be able to call upon the full Commission for advice
and counsel, but he will have final jurisdiction over problems affecting
these highways.

It should be the duty of the full membership of the State Roads
Commission to formulate policy relative to the location, type and
design of the feeder or secondary roads. I envision that the members
of the Commission will jointly discuss their local problems, bearing
in mind that the member of the Commission from the area of the
highway under discussion will acquaint the rest of the Commission
with local conditions as they actually exist.

It should also be the function of the Commission, meeting as a
whole, to recommend any over-all highway improvement program
to the Executive and Legislative Branches of our State. The Com-
mission, as a whole, should also make recommendations from time
to time to the Governor and the Legislature concerning highway
financing.

Also, the question as to what degree consulting engineers should
be used should be determined by the Commission, meeting jointly.
The duty of selecting the engineers, however, should be vested in
the Director of Highways. The full membership of the Commission
should also determine such matters as general working conditions
and salary recommendations of the Commission's employees. Once
the general policy is determined, however, it should be the duty
of the Director to put such policy into operation.

Such a plan, in my opinion, will centralize the responsibility for
the design and construction of our main highway system in the
Director of Highways. At the same time, it will insure the residents
of the several areas of the State that their problems relating to what
might be called "local roads" will be considered. Further, with the
Director of Highways responsible for carrying out the Commission's
policy on the Secondary System, the residents of the several areas of
the State will be assured of forceful and centralized responsibility.

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