June 26
| 1956 | Congress completes work on the landmark Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 when the House approves the bill by voice vote and the Senate completes congressional action on an 89 to 1 roll call vote. Senator Russell Long of Louisiana is the lone dissenter, saying he believes present taxes are sufficient to finance the program. The bill's chief sponsors, Senator Albert Gore, Sr. (TN) and Representative George H. Fallon (MD), in a joint statement, say the bill will set in motion "the greatest governmental construction program in the history of the world." Fallon adds, "The American people will ride safely upon many thousands of miles of broad, straight, trouble-free roads, four to eight lanes wide, criss-crossing America from coast to coast and border to border, built to the very highest standards that our highway engineers can devise."
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| 1962 | In Delmar, NY, Region 1 holds a seminar for 12 members of BPR's Executive Reserve--officials from contractors' associations, consulting engineering firms, universities, and retired highway officials who will fill executive posts in the Agency if present top officials are killed or incapacitated in a nuclear attack. Similar seminars will be held in each of BPR's regions, covering all 88 reservists. |
