BALTIMORE

February 15, 1965

It is a great pleasure for me to be here today. I am particularly
grateful for the opportunity to address this distinguished assemblage
because it is you who represent that segment of our State's industry
which is responsible for our magnificent highway system. And it is that
system which has been responsible, in large measure, for the fantastic
growth now being experienced every year within the borders of our great
Free State.

There is no single word which typifies the American—and the Mary-
land—image more than the word strength. It took strong minds, filled
with imagination and vision, to build this country into the world power
it is today, with the highest standard of living ever known to man. It
took strong bodies and wills to clear the path from the first landings in
Jamestown in 1607, to the Pacific Ocean. Nowhere has this will to
build, this burning desire to create, this realization of duty been more
apparent than in our own Maryland in the past few years.

Today we are maintaining our strength and are, in fact adding to
it in order to keep abreast in this highly competitive world. Utilizing
the great democratic process, the partnership of the people, their govern-
ment, and industry have combined to make Maryland the second fastest
growing State on the Eastern Seaboard. Our urban areas are expanding
at a fantastic rate. The present population of the Baltimore metro-
politan area is 1. 5 million. By the year 1980, it is expected this figure
will double. In the Washington metropolitan area, that year will see a
population of some 6 million. In fact, the entire Baltimore-Washington
corridor will have grown to a total of 10 million human souls. Similar
expansion is now being experienced in Western Maryland and on the
Eastern Shore.

It is to Maryland's credit that our economy is keeping abreast of this
great population explosion. Assisted by the recent federal tax measures,
our Gross State Product is expanding at a rate almost twice that of the
national average. And gentlemen, as this expansion continues, the need
for more of everything—more steel, more food, more fuel, more homes,
apartments and shopping centers increases daily. These are the chal-
lenges of growth. Whether we continue to meet these challenges de-
pends primarily on whether we can meet another challenge—the chal-
lenge of mobility.

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