The Creation of
U.S. Interstate
Highways
By Skyler Farrand and Matt
Layding
History
❖ America pumped cheap petroleum from
Middle East
❖ U.S. doubled consumption of oil in
quarter-century after the war
❖ Anticipated a future of low-cost fuels
➢ Lead to construction of highways
History
❖ Congress first authorized a national
highway system in 1944, but it became
underfunded
❖ President Eisenhower signed the FederalAid Highway Act of 1956
➢ Created Federal Highway Administration
❖ President Eisenhower became “Father of
the Interstate System”
History
❖ Federal-Aid Highway Act also created nationwide
design standards:
➢ A minimum of two lanes in each direction
➢ Lanes that were 12 ft in width
➢ A 10-foot right paved shoulder
➢ Designed speeds of 50–70 mph
Highway Construction Equipment
(www.dot.ca.gov)
Planning/Construction
❖ Largest Public Works Project of Eisenhower’s
Administration was the creation of the United States
Interstate highways
❖ The project called for construction of 42,000 miles of
controlled-access highways linking major cities
❖ When Eisenhower left Office 7,500 miles of the
system were in use
Interstate Map
“President Eisenhower … gave the nation its biggest
construction project, the huge interstate-highway program
that changed the shape of American society and made
possible the expansion of the suburban middle class.”
James M. Perry
The Wall Street Journal
October 27, 1995
Influential Cultures
❖ Middle-class whites fled from cities full of
black and destitute people, moving to the
suburbs
❖ Racism against African Americans
❖ Classism against the unwealthy
Stereotypical Family Home in the 1950’s
(www.driveinmedia.com)
Benefiters
❖ Commuters
❖ Travelers
❖ Automobile
Companies
❖ Postal Services
❖ Military Vehicles
❖ Construction
workers
Non-Benefiters
❖ Environmentalists
❖ People who did
not own cars
Domestic Event?
❖
❖
❖
❖
Changed culture and lives of U.S. citizens
Facilitated the suburban migration
By 1960, ¼ of Americans lived in suburbs
Suburbs held ½ of population by end of
the twentieth century
❖ Increased racial segregation and urban
“white flight”
Works Cited
Kennedy, David M, et al. “The American Pageant.” Boston: Charles
Hartford, 2006. Print.
Manning, Martin J. "national highway system." Daily Life through History.
ABC-CLIO, 2014. Web. 10 Mar. 2014.
Mayer, Michael S. "Eisenhower, Dwight D." The Eisenhower Years,
Presidential Profiles. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2010. American History
Online. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 11 Mar.2014<http://www.fofweb.
com/NuHistory/default.asp?ItemID=WE52>
Snyder, Logan Thomas. “The Creation of America’s Interstate Highway
System.” American History. 2006. Academic Search Premier. Ebscohost.
Web. 11 March, 2014. <http://www.ebscohost.com>