August 24
| 1912 | President William Howard Taft signs the Post Office Appropriations Act for 1913, launching an experimental Federal-aid post road program. The bill appropriates $500,000, divided equally among the States, to improve roads that are or may be designated for rural free delivery of mail. The Federal share is one-third and funds can be made available to State or county governments. The program was not successful if measured by mileage (17 post road projects totalling 457 miles in 13 States), but it provided experience that helped mold the 1916 Federal Aid Road Act (e.g., restricting Federal-aid to States and requiring them to have a highway agency) and prepared OPR engineers for the Federal-aid highway program. (See July 11, 1916.) |
| 1926 | In California, the new highway over Donner Summit is dedicated. The State Highway Commission built part of the road, and BPR built the rest, including the Donner Summit Bridge, in cooperation with the Forest Service. The bridge spans a chasm to maintain a 7-percent grade. |
| 1967 | Comptroller General Elmer B. Staats transmits a General Accounting Office report to Congress on problems with metropolitan area Interstate segments. The report covers projects in San Francisco (various), Chicago (I-494, Crosstown Expressway), Baltimore (I-95), Detroit (I-696), and New York City (I-78, Lower Manhattan Expressway). |
