Interstate Highway System - 50th Anniversary
National Interstate System
The interstate system was authorized by the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, popularly known as the National Interstate and
Defense Highways Act of 1956. It was lobbied for by major U.S. automobile manufacturers and championed by President Dwight D.
Eisenhower, and was influenced by both his experiences as a young soldier crossing the country in 1919 following the route of
the Lincoln Highway, and by his appreciation of the German autobahn network.Planning for a system of new superhighways began in the late 1930s, even before federal commitment to build the Interstate highway system came in the 1950s. Construction on the world's first public limited-access highway, the Bronx River Parkway, had begun in New York as early as 1907. By the 1920s, longer highways such as the New York City parkway system had been built as part of local or state highway systems. As automotive traffic increased, planners saw a need for such an interconnected national system to supplement the existing, largely non-freeway, U.S. Highway system.The General location of national system of interstate highways, including all additional routes at urban areas designated in September, 1955 maps what became the interstate system, and is informally known as the Yellow Book. Although construction on the Interstate Highway system continues, it was officially regarded as complete in 1991 (though 1.5 miles of the original planned system remain unconstructed as of 2005 [1]). The initial cost estimate for the system was $25 billion over twelve years; it ended up costing $114 billion, taking 35 years to complete. As of 2004, the system contains over 42,700 miles (68,500 km) of roads, all at least four lanes wide. Courtesy of Wikipedia |
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