history of highways
Issue 94 - July 22nd, 2022
Have you ever stopped to consider how on EARTH all of the highways and interstate systems were built in our country? It seems like they have been around forever, but most of the infrastructure for the current highways you see today did not even begin until the mid 1950’s with President Eisenhower.
Begun in 1956, the U.S. Interstate Highway System is responsible for today's trucking industry, suburbs, gas stations, motels and the "road trip".
On June 29, 1956, President Dwight Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956. The bill created a 41,000-mile “National System of Interstate and Defense Highways” that would, according to Eisenhower, eliminate unsafe roads, inefficient routes, traffic jams and all of the other things that got in the way of “speedy, safe transcontinental travel.”
With the passage of the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, construction got underway of the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System. Each Interstate Highway was required to be a controlled-access highway with at least four lanes, and no at-grade crossings. Controlled-access highways have on and off ramps and are designed for high-speed traffic.
A map was created called the General Location of National System of Interstate Highways Map, which laid out what became the Interstate Highway System.
Today, there are more than 250 million cars and trucks in the United States, or almost one per person. At the end of the 19th century, by contrast, there was just one motorized vehicle on the road for every 18,000 Americans. At the same time, most of those roads were made not of asphalt or concrete but of packed dirt (on good days) or mud. Under these circumstances, driving a car was not simply a way to get from one place to another: It was an adventure. Outside cities and towns, there were almost no gas stations or even street signs, and rest stops were unheard-of.
Interstate Highway System milestones
Missouri was first state off the block when on August 13, 1956, work began in St. Charles County on US-40, which is now named I-70. On September 26, 1956, Kansas kicked off its portion of I-70. Additional milestones include:
* October 17, 1974 - Nebraska becomes the first state to complete all its Interstate Highways when the final piece of I-80 is dedicated
* October 12, 1979 - I-5 is dedicated near Stockton, California, linking Canada to Mexico, and making it the first contiguous freeway connecting the North American countries
* August 22, 1986 - the last section of I-80 is completed in Salt Lake City, Utah, making it the first coast-to-coast highway, going from San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey; it is the world's first contiguous freeway to span the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans
* August 10, 1990 - the final section of the southerly, coast-to-coast I-10 is completed in Phoenix, Arizona, linking Santa Monica, California, to Jacksonville, Florida
* September 12, 1991 - the final section of the northerly, coast-to-coast I-90 is completed near Wallace, Idaho, linking Seattle, Washington to Boston, Massachusetts
* October 14, 1992 - the Interstate Highway System is considered finished with the completion of I-70 through Glenwood Canyon in Colorado; it is considered to be an engineering marvel with a 12-mile (19 km) span containing 40 bridges and numerous tunnels.
Did you know?
Major Interstate routes are designated by one- or two-digit numbers. Routes with odd numbers run north and south, while even numbered run east and west.
Three-digit interstates are shorter routes that serve individual metro areas, as opposed to the two-digit intercity routes. They connect to longer two-digit routes, and act as beltways, spurs, or connectors. These are usually LOOPS around big metro areas like 635 in Dallas as an example.
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