STATEMENT OF COMMITTEE OBJECTIVES: MODERNIZATION OF STATE HIGHWAY LAWS

Study objectives of the highway laws committee of the Highway Research Board are: (1) to assemble state constitutions and statutes and analyse them as they relate to all highway functions, such as system classification, highway design, construction, maintenance, etc., and (2) with the background of fact so derived, to isolate important principles so that authorities throughout the country may later, by review and discussion, help to determine which are basic for adequate highway laws. A brief history is presented of the development of highway law from the road building era of 1920-1930 to date. It is recognized that a through modernization of highway law is needed in order to give the highway engineers the kind of authority, responsibility and free hand needed to do the modern highway job. It is planned to develop and adequate formulation of what constitutes the basic elements in every functional phase of highway law. When this delineation is completed, many states will want to take a look at their legislative provisions so as to determine their adequacy.