The U.S. Interstate highway system is something most of us probably take for granted, despite
being the largest road network on the planet at over 48,000 miles in length.
These roads connect every major city in the United States to one another, from Chicago
to Miami, New York to L.A., and Phoenix to Seattle.
The path to the creation of the system we see today begins over a century ago in 1916.
Infrastructure across the country at this time was in a terrible state and deteriorating
further every year due to a lack of funding.
This was not only detrimental to the American public but also for the Army, who were becoming
increasingly reliant on roads instead of railways during the First World War.
The Federal Aid Road Act, introduced in the House by Congressman Shackleford of Missouri,
aimed to improve the conditions of this infrastructure by matching state construction costs with
federal funds, focusing on any public road in the country that was used by the U.S. Postal
Service.
Congressman Edward Browne of Wisconsin, a proponent of the bill, would echo the sentiment
felt across the country at the time, stating, ‘our road system is wholly inadequate to
meet the demands of this 20th-century civilization’.
Browne was not alone in this opinion, allowing the bill to pass Congress and reach President
Woodrow Wilson’s desk on July 11th, 1916, who would sign.
For the following five years, the federal government would spend nearly $85,000,000
on road construction, or nearly 2.2 billion today.
Many issues still existed with the public road system, however.
Because of these ongoing issues with the public road system, Congress would pass the Federal
Aid Highway Act of 1921, often referred to as the Phipps act for its Senatorial sponsor,
Lawrence Phipps of Colorado.
This act, outlining the creation of a national highway system, was headed by the chair of
the National Highway Commission, Thomas MacDonald.
75 million dollars annually would be allocated to public roads, with a plan set in place
aiming to focus on improving and constructing roads deemed ‘primary highways’.
As a result of the act, the Bureau of Public Roads, the predecessor to today’s Federal
Highway Administration, would begin administering 11 Western states, including Alaska and Hawaii.
The Bureau, in 1922, would request from the Army a map of public roads essential for national
defense, a task that would be handled by General John Pershing.
The map, known as the Pershing Map, was some 32 feet long and served as the first blueprint
for a national highway.
As the roads authorized by the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1921 were completed by 1923,
progress would increase throughout the 20s leading up to the Great Depression, including
the development of the New York parkway system.
With the Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, public roads would once again be addressed
by the federal government.
The National Interregional Highway Committee was created by FDR to look into the viability
of creating a national highway, publishing a 1944 report emphasizing ‘transcontinental,
long-haul’ roads.
This, along with several other reports from government agencies, would further develop
the already ambitious plans for the national highway—plans that would remain mere plans
until Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected to office.
Eisenhower, inaugurated January 20th, 1953, would spearhead the national highway effort.
Graduating from West Point in 1915, Eisenhower was part of the 1919 Army convoy on Lincoln
Highway, the nation’s first transcontinental road spanning 3,389 miles.
Attempting to cross the continent to test the capabilities of America’s infrastructure
during a national emergency, the 79 vehicle convoy would be met with countless challenges
on their journey, including large unpaved segments of roads, steep grades, and weak
bridges—several of which would have to be demolished and rebuilt entirely to allow the
heavier vehicles to pass.
The trip, taking 62 days with an average speed of just over 6 miles per hour, proved something
had to be done to improve the national infrastructure.
Taking this experience with him to the White House some 34 years later coupled with the
early form of the German autobahn network he encountered serving on the European front
of World War II, Eisenhower would appoint General Lucius Clay to head the committee
that would propose an interstate highway plan.
Clay’s committee would propose a ten year, 100 billion dollar program that would span
some 40,000 miles and link every American city larger than 50,000, of which 90% would
be funded by the federal government.
Known as the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, the bill was first proposed in Congress in
February of 1955, quickly passing the Senate but being held up in the House, with a compromise
eventually being reached where the costs of the bill would be paid for by a gasoline tax.
Eisenhower would sign the bill into law on June 29th, 1956.
Missouri claims the first three segments of interstate constructed under this bill in
August of 1956, improving Interstate 44 and beginning work on Route 40 in St. Charles
County, which today spans much of the nation from the Atlantic in New Jersey to Salt Lake
City, Utah.
By 1992, the Interstate system was considered to be complete, with nearly all of the originally
planned highways constructed.
Today, there are 70 Interstates in the U.S., spanning everywhere from coast to coast and
allowing for easy travel between every major city in the country.
This is 435American.
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