U.S. interstate system marks 50 years today

The USA a half-century ago was a place where people seldom ventured far from home. When they did, they drove on narrow, two-lane roads that moved people and goods slowly.

With the stroke of a pen 50 years ago today, President Eisenhower began to change all that. He launched the interstate highway system, a giant public works project that would speed travel and the distribution of goods, make driving safer, fuel the growth of suburbs and link far-flung regions of the nation.

As the network took shape, the USA became a nation where automobiles could whisk along wide freeways in one-third or one-quarter of the time it had taken before. The culture of the automobile exploded. Families hit the road for vacations, interstate shipping grew exponentially and people accepted longer drives to work.

The interstate network is getting crowded much faster than it’s being expanded, and spending to expand and modernize it must increase dramatically to reduce congestion, according to a report being released today.

USA Today