ment of our interurban bus system in this State. Safeway Trails, Inc.,
we Marylanders do not forget, is a Maryland institution, having been
chartered under our laws in April, 1937. We, therefore, take great pride
in the growth and progress of Trailways....

And now, it is my pleasure, as Governor of Maryland, to cut the
ribbon to open formally this new Trailways Bus Terminal Building in
Baltimore.

REMARKS AT OPENING OF A PORTION OF
THE BALTIMORE BELTWAY

October 11, 1961

During the past few years, the words—Baltimore Beltway—have under-
gone a dramatic change in meaning. At first, the words described a
planner's dream, a great circumferential route around the nation's sixth
largest city; a route that would link the rapidly growing communities
around the perimeter of the city; a route that would give economic and
cultural unity to the scattered thousands living and working in this
suburban region.

But, at first, Baltimore Beltway was only a series of lines on a map.
Highway location specialists and survey parties began to give substance to
the Baltimore Beltway as they pounded stakes into the ground in advance
of construction. Right-of-way agents from the State Roads Commission
began to buy property and the Beltway became closer to reality. Sections
of the great road were built at various locations around the city and the
popularity of the highway rapidly asserted itself as traffic counts of
20, 000 and 25, 000 vehicles a day were registered.

Today, we open up yet another section of the Beltway marking the
halfway point of the project. Approximately fifty per cent of the 33-mile
route will be open to traffic after we cut this ribbon here this morning.
And even as we conduct that happy chore, the work goes on. Just to
the west of Belair Road, another section of the Beltway is taking shape.
... By next summer, the Beltway will be finished.

The completion of the Baltimore Beltway was one of the prime targets
of this Administration. Great volumes of traffic now using two-lane
winding roads through the suburban regions will then have an express-
way facility from Ritchie Highway to Pulaski Highway.

When the present State Roads Commission took office, it conducted
regional meetings all over the State. In the urban regions of our State,

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