hardy, not to say disastrous, if we attempted to solve these problems
or reach these goals by single-minded action.

This Metropolitan Area Traffic Council, which has been in oper-
ation for eight years, is a sterling example of this "metropolitan
approach" to our problems. The State of Maryland, and the two
Maryland counties which flank the District on this side of the
Potomac, are proud to be a part of this brotherly movement....

The idea of cooperation is nothing new to the states of Virginia
and Maryland. And although our history is marked with a few in-
cidents of bitterness over boundaries and the control of the great
river that divides us, the relationship has been one of friendliness
and cooperation. The compact under which these two sister states
undertook to regulate the Potomac River and the mouth of the Ches-
apeake Bay is older than our Republic. A renewal of this compact
Maryland hopes will be accomplished soon....

Within the limited time allotted to me this morning, I had hoped
to review with you some of the things Maryland is doing in traffic
control and traffic safety that affects this metropolitan area. First of
all, I should like to speak of our program of highway engineering in
this area. We have, as most of you know, I am sure, concentrated
on a program of constructing adequate radials leading from the su-
burban counties into downtown Washington. Every traffic study we
have made has pointed up the need for such radials. There is, of
course, a great need also for a lateral movement of traffic that could
be supplied by a highway such as the Capitol Beltway. But the radials
that have been assigned first priority, on the theory of "first things
first. " And so, our State Roads Commission has decided that in its
five-year program it will use the bulk of the money allocated to the
Washington area to the construction of the radial roads.... For
this period approximately $74, 000, 000 is to be spent, on all types of
highways, in the Washington Metropolitan area. It may be noted
here that the total for the entire State of Maryland for that 1960-1965
period is $370, 000, 000. And so you see, we are to spend about 25
percent of our total in this suburban area of our nation's capital.
Traffic studies have been made, pointing up the need for increasing
the capacity of radial highways and sustaining our decision to give
first priority tot he construction of this type highway.... What we
are doing now might be described as "filling in the gaps"—filling in
the gaps so that the people who drive from suburban communities
downtown, or the reverse, may travel uninterruptedly over a good,

398