Today, gentlemen, I would like, with your permission, to guide our
thoughts for a few moments in the direction of the future. We all know
what strides Maryland has made over the past few years in the con-
struction of a backbone system of highways, highways able to move
great volumes of people and goods with a maximum of efficiency in
every part of our State. To be aware of this, you only have to drive from
point to point in Maryland and note the ever-shrinking amount of time
it takes you to make a specific trip.

In the Baltimore region, commuters continually tell me how much
time has been taken off their daily trips from home to work and work
to home because of the construction of such fine facilities as the Balti-
more Beltway and the Jones Falls Expressway. In the Washington
region of Maryland, the same thing is true in some sectors because of
the dualization of heavily-traveled radials. Time has been cut off longer
trips because of highway improvements. The trip from Annapolis to
Washington is now much more easily negotiated because of the com-
pletion of the John Hanson Highway. The travel time from Baltimore
and Washington to Easton and Cambridge has been reduced substan-
tially because of the dualization of U. S. Route 50 on the Eastern Shore.
The difficult construction in and around the mountains of Allegany
County on U. S. Route 40 has made the trip to Cumberland from the
east safer and faster.

Additional work is underway in all parts of the State, holding the
promise of even more convenience and safety for the motorists of
Maryland. To accomplish this, the partnership between government
and private enterprise has functioned well. The Maryland contracting
industry has responded energetically to the demands the people have
made upon our roadbuilders. Even in emergency situations—and I recall
last winter's storm at Ocean City particularly—the contracting industry
of Maryland was ready, willing and able and did respond to the call from
government to help in the big job of rebuilding our State's lone ocean
resort.

I know that government can continue to expect this type of coopera-
tion and willingness on the part of the contractors of our State to do a
job fast and to do it well. I know that you, as businessmen, and as
residents who deeply love Maryland, are as interested as I in the future
of our State and you, as well as I, want to see our State grow economically

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