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ROAD CONSTRUCTION HAS NOT I MPROVED I N 30 00 YEARS by Guy 13 . de Vall Hermann Sc hre i be r, in his book "Me rcha nts, Pilgrims and Hi ghwaymen: History of Roads t hrougn t he Ag s , " on page 115 wrot e : 11 • • • A for betwee n the roads of a ncient Crete (3000 B. C. ) a nd the mode rn U. S . Highway No. 40 NO MORE THAN !IALF A DOZE,· TECHHCAL DISCOVERIES HAVE BEEN MADE THAT ARE OF ANY SIGNI fI CAl'iCE. " l3e fore we l ook at a new i dea , t he words of Thomas Edison i n r egard t o new i deas should be re coll ect ed : "Convent i on requires that we all look at things in the same single way . 'Thus f ar s halt thou go, and no fart her' is the s taid remonstrance of convention. Our ve r y f amiliari t y wi t h a spec i alized f i e l d of experience condi t ions us to t h i nk about it conventi onally. We may become so accustomed to doing thi ngs i n a certain way t hat i t does not occur to us t hat i t c an be done in anot her and perhaps better way . " For 3000 years roads ha ve not on l y been c onst ructed practically the same way, but have rendered on ly ONE service : to a l low veh i cles to trave l from point A to point P - a nd tha t is all ! For 3000 years r oaas have been fi nanced in two ways: (1) by t he taxpayers; and (2) by oriva te individuals who were per mitted to charge a " t oll" to t he road users . The 3000-year-old systems of building and financin~ roads are responsible for our ci ties ' growing l CLTER S1<ILTER and bringing almost incredib le conges tion which p: reatly affects the econo1:1y of the nation. The WALL STREtT JOURNA L of Jan uary 24 , 196 3 , rn an article perta ining to roads , states : �- 2 - "One distribution c onsu ltan t estimated that up to 80 cents of the consumer dollar goes to cover dis tribution costs on s uch products as s ulphur, certain drugs and some cosmetics. "For all U.S. corporations Charles Beard, dire ctor of dis tribution cost for Union Carbide Corporation, figures dis tribution cos t swallows more than $100 BIL LION A YEAR, OR AIJO UT 20% OF THE TOTAL NATIONAL OUTPUT OF GOODS AND SERVICES " (in 1963 ). ( With today 's increase i n the Gros s na tional Prod uct, how much hi ghe r is t he cost t oday th an in 1963?) Roads no t only affect th e consumer' s dollar but also the Government ' s dollar - whether it is Federal, State, or Munici pal . The LOS ANG ELES TI MES of J a nuary 20, 1966 carr ies the headline: "TAXES TOP ISSUE IN GUBERNATORIAL RACE "According to th e State Poll, as of today the State Structure in the St ate of Cali fo rnia appears to be th e ma jor issue in the 1966 Gubernatorial campai gn." Such conditions prevai l not only in all 50 sta t es b ut in every U. S . city, large or small. In recent years the property taxes in t he small city of Santa Monica, like many other cities, were substantially increased. The City of Santa Monica could, ny adopting the de Va ll system of con struct ing roads , reduce taxes and, at the s ame time, have a more "li vable city." Santa Monica can acquire, at no cost to herself, the followin g : (1) the land comprising the two-mile-long sec tion of Highway 101 which runs pa r al lel to the ocean, thus returning it to the tax roll and bringing considerab le new revenue to the city. ( 2) better housing for low-in come fa milies , t he a ged, and public servant.of Santa Monica. �- 3 - ( 3) eliminat ion of the dangerous bottlene ck which the new Santa Monica Freeway has creat ed in Santa Moni ca. At the same time, Santa Moni ca can avoid : (l) t he hi gh cost of building a ca useway (one of the ideas that has been considered for the e xt e nsion of the Santa Honica Freeway ) . ( 2 ) placing the Santa Mon i ca Freeway i n the middle of t he city, whi ch would greatly r educe the tax income to t he city . Moreover , the de Val l road wo uld permit a steady f l ow of traffic , which today is non- existent . The deVall road does not consist of pul l ing rabb its out of a magician 's hat; deVall on l y propos es to adopt already- us e d systems and to adopt the very same systems to today 's technology and ways of doing busines s . Private road finan cing is not new ; some of the best roads in America in the 19th Ce ntury were built by private capital. Private capital built the roads because they brought a profit through " t oll charges " to the road users, who consisted only of auto and truck drivers. on ly through ONE s ervice: Specifica lly, t he profits were produced to pe rmit a vehicle to trave l f rom point A to point B. The de Vall r oad, instead of ONE service, would r e nde r many servi ces , the combined se r vi ces bringi ng considerab l e r e ve nue s . Private capi tal would be an xious to inve s t i n a new proj ec t whe r e t he ir inves t me nt s would bring a good rate of return . On ce the necess ar y c ons ent is ob t ained from Sa nta :1onica , the State of Cal ifornia can p ut up at b i ddi ng the construc t i on o f the deVall r oad on t ha t section of Hi ghway 101 l ocated in Sa nta Mon ica. Cons t ruction companies s uch as Ka i se r, U. S. St eel , Bethlehem , and othe r s · would bid. The winner would b ui ld on the l and whi ch has been granted by t he St ate and the City. �I - 4 - The builders, at completion of the deVa ll road, would receive the total revenue wh ich the road would bring and would pay taxes to the City, State, and Federal Governments. The City of Santa Moni ca can not only incre as e considerably its reven ue but also can acquire many acres of valuab le l and within t he city limits IF it will consi der incorporating some of its agencies and services (such as the pol ice, f ire , and first-aid stations) as an integ ral part of the deVa ll r oad . The city could then mak e an agreeme nt wi t h the b uilders of the road to se cure the needed space free of charge. The city could then easily dispose o f some of t he land and structures in the city where said services are t oday located . The r oad that deVall proposes to be built in Santa Monica is, comparatively, a ve ry simple road. The three- dimensional model of the freewa y that deVall has built re pres e nts a much more complex system; however, it becomes very simple once it is viewed. The structure is provided with mode ls of electric trains, buses, autos, and t r ucks, each of whi ch travels on separa te routes. Access es and exits f or the veh icles c l early show t hat all t he " but s" and "ifs " ha ve been elimin at ed by t he simple proce dure of ha vi ng previously ma de more t ha n 100 experime nt al models, and each one never measured less t han 20 ' x 30 ' . In viewing the mo del, the viewer cannot help reco l lectirg t he h i s t ory of roads in America. I ndians. Whe n t he Pilgrims l an ded, they found t he foo t pat hs of the The Pi lgrims f irst crea t ed the unpaved r oads. A generati on l ater the macadam road evolved, then cemen t r oads. Is it not logical that in the 20 t h Century Ame ri c a ns should bui l d freeways in steel (and cement)? �- 5 - The de Vall model s hows much mor e t han mere roads ; it s hows t hat, in or de r fo r r oads to render t hei r inte nded s ervi ces , whole new cities mus t come into be ing. The s t ructures and build i ngs whi ch we r e built bes ide th e r oads of early Ame r ica ha ve go ne . 11 On l y t he r oads r ema i ne d . Today t he ce me n t pa vemen t i s a t ombs ton e 11 of the va l uab l e lan d whi c h i t cove r s . on t he 11 The de Va ll s ys tem merely b uilds t ombstone 11 an d , in so doing , wi ll bene fi t not only the pock e tbooks of a ll, but t he nervous s ys t e ms and ge ne r a l s t at e of he a lth of al l citizens . If today 196 milli ons of Ame ricans were to land on virgin s oi l , as America was in th e days o f t he Indi a ns , with the ir modern tools and ma chines and with steel and ceme nt , WOUL D THEY HAVE BUILT THE I R ROA DS AND BUI LDINGS AS WE SEE THEM TODAY? Guy Bos sini deVall 1007 Sixth Street Sant a Monica, California Te le phone: 90 403 395-2 727 J anuary 26 , 1966 P.S. LIFE ' s January 12 , 1962 i ss ue feat ured an arti cle r ega r ding mass fall- out shelte r s. The idea of 11 s hel ters," al though pract ic ally ignored t oday , has not been f or gotten in the Pentagon and in t he Wh i te Ho use. The deVall road Hould provi de not only fall-out shelters (at n o cost to the taxpayers) but also an 11 e sc ape r oute 11 for city inhabit ants to the sea, whe re bo ats or trains could t ake them to safety. Wi th China a member of thL: A-bomb club, can we afford not to give considera tion t o the 1 'shelters 11 ? �