810.154/3239½
Memorandum by the Assistant Chief of the Division of the American Republics (Cabot)
On December 26, 1941, the so-called Inter-American Highway Act (Public 375), which had passed Congress after a year’s efforts on the Department’s part, was signed by the President. By this Act Congress authorized the expenditure of $20,000,000 on the Inter-American Highway, provided the six Central American countries would provide at least one-third of the cost of their respective sections. Basic agreements providing United States cooperation have now been signed with the above-named countries and Project Statements, which provide for the actual construction of the highway, with Costa Rica, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras. Work is proceeding in all four of these countries.43 Guatemala has completed an all-weather road of inferior construction and Panama has almost completed a similar road.
In the early summer of 1942 the War Department concluded that military considerations made it advisable to complete a highway, from [Page 96] standard railhead on the Mexico-Guatemala border to Panama City. The plan called for the construction of a narrow all-weather road (“pioneer highway”) which would join together the already completed segments of the Inter-American Highway. The War Department agreed to pay the cost of construction, except for rights of way. The highway was to be built directly on the line of the permanent project so that it might be gradually improved as a part of the latter. After the Department had successfully negotiated basic agreements with the respective countries, work was undertaken partly under contract with the local Roads Administration and partly by American contractors. Original plans called for construction of the pioneer highway in one dry season, November 1942–May 1943, but work was much delayed by the acute shipping shortage and comparatively low priorities. In September 1943, when the project was less than half completed at a cost of $40,000,000, the War Department decided that there was no further military necessity for the highway, and that its construction was to be discontinued. The Department has been helping to make arrangements ever since for the orderly liquidation of the project.
By an arrangement between the Army and the PEA the latter undertook the construction of the difficult mountain section between Cartago and San Isidro in Costa Rica. In the spring of 1943, it became evident that the PEA had grossly under-estimated the cost of this section, and indeed of the whole Inter-American Highway project. An extra appropriation of $12,000,000 was secured from Congress, which placed no obligation on Costa Rica to provide cooperative funds in order to complete this section of the highway.
The present situation is approximately as follows: In Guatemala, the Army has turned over its construction machinery to the local Roads Administration, and the latter has agreed in substance to finish the pioneer highway. In El Salvador, the pioneer highway was completed, and the Inter-American Highway is being completed on a somewhat different route. In Honduras, the PEA is arranging to take over the construction of the highway from the Army contractors. In southern Nicaragua, the local Roads Administration has completed the pioneer highway and will now shift to the north Nicaraguan section, taking over where Army contractors left off. In north Costa Rica, the PEA is completing arrangements to continue work with machinery lent without charge by the Army. In south Costa Rica, except on the Cartago-San Isidro section, work is practically abandoned for the moment; it is to be resumed when the Cartago-San Isidro section is finished. Negotiations with Panama for the conclusion of the Project Statement are about to be undertaken.
- Public Law 90 of June 26, 1943 (57 Stat. 179) appropriated $5,000,000 for survey and construction work on the Inter-American Highway plus $100,000 for special engineering services of the Public Roads Administration in fulfilling United States obligations under the several Inter-American Highway Agreements.↩