This week, CR4 celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Eisenhower Interstate Highway System, "a giant nationwide engineering project" that transformed a nation. Check back with us all week as we cover the "Roots of the Road" on Tuesday, "The Politics of Passage" on Wednesday, "Adventures in Civil Engineering" on Thursday, and "The Road Ahead" on Friday.
On June 29, 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act, landmark legislation that funded a 40,000-mile system of interstate roads that would reach every American city with a population of more than 100,000. Today, almost 90% of the interstate system crosses rural areas, connecting far flung locations and putting most citizens and businesses within driving distance of one another. Although some historians claim that Eisenhower's motivations were military in nature, the nation's civilian population reaped the rewards. From the rise of suburbs to the decline of urban areas, from the growth of trucking to the promise of the automobile, the interstate highway system has shaped American landscapes and lives.
In 1994, the American Society of Civil Engineers described the Eisenhower Interstate Highway System "one of the Seven Wonders of the United States". In 2006, this network of roads includes 46,000 miles of highway; 55,000 bridges; 82 tunnels, and 14,000 interchanges. According to the Federal Highway Administration (FHA), excavation for the interstate system has moved enough material to bury the State of Connecticut knee-deep in dirt. The amount of Portland cement could build more than 80 Hoover dams, or lay six sidewalks to the moon. The lumber used would consume all of the trees in 500 square miles of forest. The structural steel could build 170 skyscrapers the size of the Empire State Building, and meet nearly half of the annual requirements of the American auto industry. Lengthwise and in aggregate, the bridges of the Eisenhower Interstate Highway System would span the Rio Grande. Although the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 appropriated $34 billion over a 13-year period, that amount would finance just one year of highway construction today. In fact, most of the work on the Eisenhower Interstate Highway System was completed during the 1960s and 1970s, when subsequent legislation expanded the project's scope and cost. According to some estimate, the project's total price tag now exceeds $100 billion. The most expensive route is I-95, a north/south highway which cost $8 billion to build and covers 16 states from Maine to Florida. Texas leads the nation with 3,233.45 miles of interstate, but New York has the most interstate routes with 29. I-90, the nation's longest interstate highway, runs from Boston, Massachusetts to Seattle, Washington over a distance of 3,020.54 miles.
Highway statistics are informative, but tell only part of the story. In February 1968, Robert Paul Jordan of National Geographic reported that "Americans are living in the midst of a miracle. A giant nationwide engineering project – the Interstate Highway System – is altering and circumventing geography on an unprecedented scale." This week, the staff of CR4 will take you on a journey through time and across America. Each day, we'll feature a story about the Eisenhower Interstate Highway System and encourage you to post comments, ask questions, and tell some stories of your own.
We'll see you on the road.
Resources:
http://www.interstate50th.org/reenactment.shtml
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/50size.cfm
http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthemove/exhibition/exhibition_16_1.html
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/programadmin/interstate.html
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/programadmin/interstate.html
Click here for our second installment "The Eisenhower Interstate Highway System: Roots of the Road."
Part 1: A Giant Nationwide Engineering Project
Bridges vs. Miles - something doesn't add up
