IN order to provide a transcontinental route which will make it possible to tour by motor car from coast to coast at all periods of the year, a campaign has been started by the Lee Highway Association, assisted by the American Automobile Association.
As a result of this co-operation, the Federal Government, through the United States Bureau of Public Roads, and the States of Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California, through their road departments, are engaged in the selection of the most feasible route from Washington, D. C., to San Diego, Cal. Subsequently, effort is to be concentrated for the speedy completion of all unfinished sections, and for the systematic maintenance and the widening and strengthening of the pavement as required by the volume and character of the traffic the pavement will be required to carry.
The route has already been selected from Washington in a southwest diagonal down the valleys of Virginia and Tennessee through Roanoke, Bristol and Knoxville to Chattanooga. The next step is to fix the route from Chattanooga to San Diego. Dr. S. M. Johnson, general director of the Lee Highway Association, accompanied by an Automobile Association of America representative and a number of Government officials, left Memphis a few weeks ago to inspect the route, having previously completed inspection of routes from Chattanooga to Memphis. The road followed was by way of Little Rock.
In a statement relating to the Lee Highway, Director General Johnson says:
“From practically every county seat in the series of counties between the national capital and San Diego the city pavement extends a considerable distance in either direction, and in many sections the pavement is continuous for a hundred miles or more. This series of pavement is now to be connected. The road is of primary importance to each State and its completion will be a main factor in the further development of the State.
“The proposed route will probably be shorter than any other Southern transcontinental highway. Within the next three years, and possibly sooner, there is every reason to anticipate a modern motorway between the capital city of the nation and Southern California.”
The Lee Highway Association is one of the youngest of such organizations, having begun its work barely two years ago. Headquarters are in Washington. C. H. Huston, Assistant Secretary of Commerce, is President of the organization.