June 18
| 1934 | The Hayden-Cartwright Act authorizes $200 million for highway projects, with a minimum of 25 percent to be expended on secondary and feeder roads. The act converts matching loans under previous acts to grants; removes limits on construction within municipalities and Federal payment per mile of road; resumes matching requirements abandoned after the Emergency Construction Act of December 20, 1930; applies a penalty to States that divert motor vehicle tax revenue to nonhighway projects; and allows earmarking of up to 1.5 percent of Federal-aid systems funds for surveys, plans, and engineering investigations, the initial legislative authorization for the planning process. Planning funds are soon used for statewide planning surveys that provide the statistical basis for the Interstate System. The President says, "As long as the roads of the Nation are used by more than 24,000,000 automobiles and trucks, construction and improvement of roads will be of major importance." The gold pens the President uses to sign the Act are provided by AASHO. |
