819.154/702
The Commissioner of Public Roads ( MacDonald ) to the Deputy Director, Office of American Republic Affairs ( Bonsal )
Dear Mr. Bonsal: In reply to your letter of December 18, 1943,13 the following information as to the status of the Trans-Isthmian Highway is submitted: There has been transferred to the Public Roads Administration the sum of $1,206,000 to complete the Trans-Isthmian Highway from Madronal to Roque, by-passing Madden Dam and extending from Pueblo Nuevo to Panama City. Purchase orders have been placed for the necessary supplies such as cement, expansion and contraction joints, and these supplies are in process of fabrication and shipment to Panama. Bridge steel for Chagres, Chilbre and Chilibrillo Rivers is in transit to New Orleans for ocean shipment.
To supplement our equipment we have purchased in Panama several pieces of equipment from the Panama Canal and from private sources. We are receiving on or about the first of March certain pieces of excavating equipment from the 15th Naval District in Panama. I am enclosing a copy of our letter of February 2214 to the Commanding General of the Army Service Forces in connection with the limited amount of equipment we are to secure from that organization. If we are successful in securing the equipment listed it will complete our equipment requirements for the project. We will then complete the construction of all work on the by-pass and the P–8 Road sections during the present dry season. It will be necessary for the Army authorities to extend full cooperation on priorities and allotments which will permit Public Roads to secure parts for equipment during the process of construction.
With present personnel and equipment the Public Roads Administration cannot undertake to reconstruct the Pacora Road if the completion of this project is considered a necessity during the present dry season.
When definite commitments are made as to the sums to be contributed by the Republic of Panama and this Government for the construction of the Pacora Road, and the type of construction is determined, Public Roads will undertake surveys and complete plans for this project. All construction work on this project, with the exception of pavement, can be completed during the coming wet season, which would permit paving to commence on or about December 15, 1944. Public Roads will, if requested, undertake the maintenance of the present Pacora Road pending the completion of the construction if funds are made available for that work.
Very truly yours,