Creation of US Interstate
Highways
Emily Lundy and Brendan Feeley
Federal-Aid Highway Act
● An act put into place in 1938
● Lead to the interstate Highway Act
● Studied feasibility of a six route toll network
● Results were written in Toll Roads and Free Roads.
Other Acts & Committees
National Interregional Highway Committee
-Appointed by FDR in 1941 investigate need for highways.
-Created the Interregional Highways report.
Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1944
-Authorized the creation of an interstate system gave no special funding though.
Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1952
-Passed due to the Korean War, gave $25 million in funding.
Interstate Highway Act of 1956
● 27 billion dollar plan
● Build 42 thousand miles of motorways
● Funded through 2 cent
tax on gasoline
Who was in charge?
● Dwight D. Eisenhower
● State of the Union
Adress
Reasons for the Act
● Military
-Improve national defense
-Escape Soviet invasion
● Commercial uses
● Tolls
● “Futurama” exhibit
Where?
● Integrated throughout 48 states
Regulations
●
●
●
●
2 lanes
12 ft wide lanes
Speed limit: 50-70 mph
10 ft wide shoulder
Groups Affected
●
●
●
●
America as a whole
American civilians
Military Personnel
America now had an
advantage over other other countries
● Railroad employees
Supporters vs. Critics
● Roosevelt
-New Deal
● Eisenhower
-1919 Motor Convoy
-Autobahn
● Various reporters
and opponents
● Supporters of
railroads- took
away business
● New Deal Critics
Cons of the Act
●
●
●
●
●
Took away railroad business
Disrupted , homes, and businesses
Was a major environmental threat
Cities lost tax income.
Interstates segregated blacks from
whites
● Led to congestion
Our Opinions
● Overall the Interstate System was a good
plan because it benefitted almost all
citizens and continues to impact American
lives today.
Citations:
"National Interstate and Defense Highways Act." American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?
ItemID=WE52&iPin=E03590&SingleRecord=True (accessed March 7, 2014).
"State of the Union Address, 1956." American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?
ItemID=WE52&iPin=E13887&SingleRecord=True (accessed March 7, 2014).
"Construction Workers Build a Highway." American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?
ItemID=WE52&iPin=WPA0623&SingleRecord=True (accessed March 7, 2014).
Video Citation (Chicago Manual of Style format):
"Construction Workers Build a Highway." The WPA Film Library. American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?
ItemID=WE52&iPin=WPA0623&SingleRecord=True (accessed March 7, 2014).
"State of the Union Address, 1954." American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?
ItemID=WE52&iPin=E13885&SingleRecord=True (accessed March 7, 2014).
Textbook:
Kennedy, David, and Lizabeth Cohen. The American Pagent. 13th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2006. 860-861, 896-897. Print.
Siasoco, R.. N.p.. Web. 9 Mar 2014. <http://www.infoplease.com/spot/interstate1.html>.
Weingroff, Richard. United States. Federal Highway Administration. Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956: Creating the Interstate System. U.S. Department of Transportation, 1996. Web. <http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/96summer/p96su10.cfm>.
Weingroff, Richard. United States. Federal Highway Administration. Year of the Interstate. U.S. Department of Transportation, 2006. Web. <http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/06jan/01.cfm>
.Brewman, Jax. "Racism, the Interstate Highway System, and Urban Renewal." DemocraticUnderground.com. Democratic Underground, 23 Jan 2009. Web. 12 Mar 2014. <http://www.democraticunderground.
com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=258&topic_id=2983&mesg_id=5081>.