>>> THERE ARE TIMES IN OUR LIVE THAT WE WILL NEVER FORGET:
MOMENTS THAT CHANGED OUR WORLD, SHAPED WHO WE ARE, AND AFTER
THEY HAPPENED, THINGS WERE NEVE THE SAME AGAIN.
EVERY MONDAY NIGHT IN MAY, WE'RE TAKING A
LOOK AT SOME OF THESE EVENTS, AND TONIGHT WE'RE GETTING IN
THE CAR AND TAKING A TRIP DOWN THE HIGHWAY.
ONE OF THE BIGGEST CHANGES TO THE WESTERN
NEW ENGLAND LANDSCAPE CAME IN THE MIDDLE OF THE LAST CENTURY
WITH THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE IN HIGHWAY SYSTEM.
IF YOU'RE ZIPPING DOWN INTERSTATE 91
TODAY, IT MIGHT BE HARD TO VISUALIZE WHAT THE STATE WAS
LIKE WITHOUT IT.
PRODUCER DAVE FRASER TAKES A LOOK AT THE
HISTORY OF THE INTERSTATE AND HOW ITS CONSTRUCTION WAS ONE
OF THE EVENTS THAT ROCKED THE R. >> IT WAS DWIGHT
D.EISENHOWER'S ACT THAT PAVED THE WAY FOR THE HIGHWAY AS WE
KNOW IT TODAY.
CONSTRUCTION OF THE MULTI-LANE LIMITED ACCESS HIGHWAY CAME IN
TWO DIRECTIONS, LONG MEADOW TO SPRINGFIELD AND FROM UP NORTH.
>> 58, 59 WAS THE FIRST PART OF IT, EVENTUALLY FINISHED BY
1970.
SUPPOSED TO BE SIX YEARS TO GET THE WHOLE THING DONE BUT A
LOT OF CAMP OCCASIONS HAPPENED.
>> SOME OF THE COMPLICATIONS HAPPENED IN THE FIRST FEW
MILES AS IT APPROACHED LONG MEADOWS AND FOREST PARK.
>> IMMEDIATELY IT RAN INTO ISSUES WITH THE BARNARD
ESTATES BECAUSE PART OF THE PLAN WAS TO TAKE THE HOUSE AND
TEAR THE BARN DOWN AND EVERYTHING.
SO RIGHT AT THE BEGINNING OF THE PROJECT, THEY HAVE IT
STOPPED FOR A COUPLE OF MONTHS WHILE THEY NEGOTIATE WHAT WAS
GOING TO HAPPEN AND PART OF THE NEGOTIATION IS THAT THEY
DID NOT TAKE MUCH OF THE BARNARD ESTATE AS THEY
ORIGINALLY HAD PLANNED TO DO.
>> THE ORIGINAL PLANS DIDN'T HAVE IT GOING THROUGH
SPRINGFIELD AT ALL.
IN FACT, IT WAS SUPPOSED TO CROSS THE RIVER AND COME UP TO
EAST SPRINGFIELD.
>> INITIALLY AS I HEARD IT AND ACCORDING TO THE RESEARCH, IT
WAS GOING TO COME UP ON THE WESTERN SIDE OF THE RIVER BUT
THEN PLANS SHIFTED IT TO THE EASTERN SIDE.
>> ONE OF THE PEOPLE IN GOVERNMENT, LIVED IN SOUTH
FIELD AND THEY DIDN'T WANT THE INTERSTATE GOING THROUGH THEIR
TOWN AT ALL.
>> SO NOW OBVIOUSLY SOMETHING IS GOING TO HAVE TO BE DONE.
SO YOU HAVE THAT SHARP BEND TO TAKE IT BACK ACROSS THE RIVER
SO IT COULD HOOK UP WITH 91 COMING TO THE NORTH.3
>> SOUNDS AND CITIES ACROSS THE HIGHWAY WERE ASKED TO
ACCEPT IT AND CHANGE THEIR MOONS TO -- COMMUNITIES TO
MAKE ROOM FOR THE TRAFFIC.
>> SPRINGFIELD BACK THEN WAS ABOUT 15,600 PEOPLE AND NOW
WE'RE DOWN TO 5600.
10,000 PEOPLE HAD TO MOVE BECAUSE OF THAT HIGHWAY BACK
IN 1959-61.
SOMEBODY OWNED SOME GOOFY PROPERTY, THAT IS WHAT MADE IT
HAPPEN.
THEY HAD QUESTIONS WITH PEOPLE IN BOSTON AND THAT CAUSED ALL
THE HOOP.
>> SIMILAR NEIGHBORHOODS WERE DIVIDED.
NORTHHAMPTON, DEER FIELD AND SOUTH HAIGHTLEY WERE SAWED IN
HALF.
>> MOST OF THE FARMERS WERE PAID ANYWHERE FROM 50 TO
$100 AN ACRE.
YOU HAD PEOPLE'S FARMS CUT IN HALF AND WERE CREATING A
LIMITED ACCESS ROAD SO IMMEDIATELY, THESE PEOPLE WERE
FACED WITH HAVING TO GO MILES AND MILES TO GET OFF TO GO
AROUND TO THE OTHER HALF OF THEIR FIELD NOW.
>> AS SECTIONS OF THE HIGHWAY UP NORTH WERE COMPLETED, THEY
OPENED IT FOR TRAVEL BUT IT WASN'T TILL THE 3-MILE STRETCH
OF HIGHWAY FROM STATE STREET TO SPRINGFIELD WAS OFFICIALLY
OPENED TO THE PUBLIC IN 1970.
>> THE PLAN HAD ALWAYS BEEN TO START NORTH AND GO SOUTH AND
THEY PRETTY MUCH FOLLOWED THAT.
SO THE FIRST OPEN SEGMENTS ARE DOWN TO GREENFIELD, THEN TO
HATFIELD.
THE IDEA WAS TO MOVE SOUTH WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT
BECAUSE THEY WERE DOING THE ELEVATED ROAD THROUGH
SPRINGFIELD, IT WAS GOING TO BE THE MOST COMPLICATED, THE
MOST EXPENSIVE AND MOST TIME-CONSUMING SO THAT WAS
INTENTIONALLY LEFT AS THE LAST THING TO BE DONE AND THEY HAD
HOPED TO FINISH THAT BY '68 BUT THAT DIDN'T HAPPEN BECAUSE
THE VIETNAM WAR FUNNELED A LOT OF THE MONEY AWAY FROM THE
INTERSTATE SIMILAR SO IT WASN'T FINISHED TILL 1970.
AND THEN OF COURSE SOME PEOPLE WOULD ARGUE IT HAS NEVER BEEN
FINISHED.
[LAUGHTER] >> FOR BETTER OR WORSE,
INTERSTATE 91 IS A VITAL PART OF OUR LANDSCAPE AND PART OF
HOW WE GET FROM HERE TO THERE.
THOUSANDS OF FAMILIES USE IT EVERY DAY TO ACCESS POINTS
THROUGHOUT NEW ENGLAND.
>> THAT IS WHAT A ROAD DOES.
IT CHANGES LIFESTYLES AND HOW PEOPLE LIVE BUT OPENS UP
TREMENDOUS OPPORTUNITY.
IT SPREADS PEOPLE OUT, IT IS POSSIBLE TO WORK FROM HOME,
DATE A GIRL WHO LIVES IN THE NEXT TOWN AND IT CREATES MORE
OF A COMMUNITY BECAUSE PEOPLE ARE NO SO QUITE LOCKED AWAY IN
THEIR LITTLE TOWNS.
YOU CAN GET ON THE HIGHWAY AND GO TO NEW YORK.
AND ONE WOMAN I WAS TALKING TO SAID WHEN SHE WAS GROWING UP
AND WENT ON VACATION, DAD WOULD GET ON 91 AND GO AS FAR
AS IT WOULD GO AND THEN HE WOULD STOP AND THAT IS WHERE
WE WOULD HAVE