Man has always sought means to bring more mobility into his world
and thus increase his economic strength or broaden his cultural horizons.
Witness the invention of various vehicles, such as the train, the auto-
mobile, the truck, or the airplane. Witness also the construction of great
railroads, canals and expressways.

The second word, accessibility, is defined as a state of being easy to
approach or easy to gain admission to. It also has economic and cultural
applications and is closely related to mobility. In this country, commu-
nities spend time and money in efforts to make themselves accessible to
their neighbors for economic and cultural reasons.

A world without mobility and accessibility would be hard to imagine
and, in fact, would probably not exist at all. But, like everything else,
words change through the years. The meaning of mobility and the
meaning of accessibility have changed. The words have a more dramatic,
a more intensive meaning than they had a decade or a generation ago.
And they will become more dramatic, more intense with each passing
year.

Let's look at mobility and what it means today. In the urban areas
of our country, we associate mobility with such things as commuting,
for example, the daily trip back and forth to work. We associate it with
the rapid and efficient delivery of goods and services to residents and
industrial establishments within the region. The very physical character-
istics of mobility, efficiently moving traffic, safe, but swift, pedestrian
movement, a modern expressway, a modern mass transit system, all these
characteristics of mobility present an image of a progressive city or a
progressive urban region. An urban region with well-planned express-
ways, well-located bus routes, well-packaged transit systems, has mobil-
ity and its very appearance is one of progress.

Every type of transportation facility and vehicle has a role to perform
in the battle for mobility in the modern age. The expressway has a role.
The collector street has a role to perform. So does the residential street
and the industrial street.

Outside of urban areas, the fight for mobility takes on a different
form, but it is just as important. There must be big highways to carry
the ever increasing volumes of interstate traffic, both commercial and
recreational. Besides, there must be adequate farm-to-market roads to
bring to the expanding urban centers the food necessary for the very
life of exploding populations. Great recreational areas will be needed
to serve the needs of our growing populations and mobility to and from
these sites must be maintained and improved to assure safety and
efficiency of travel.

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