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FHWA By Day

A Look at the History of the Federal Highway Administration
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April 15
1909 OPR's P. M. Speicher attends a good roads meeting of businessmen in Dennison, TX, to explain his tests of roadbuilding materials in Sherman County. He thinks it is possible to build excellent roads for about $3,500 a mile.
1970 Testifying before the Senate Public Works Committee, Administrator Frank Turner says that since the start of the Interstate Program in 1956, "we have provided more than 11 trillion vehicle miles of transportation over America's highways" (roughly 23 million round trips to the moon).
"By the time the Interstate System is complete the saving in operating costs alone will have amounted to at least $90 billion, enough to pay the entire capital cost and have a substantial amount left over, while the savings will continue to mount, year after year."
Frank Turner
Federal Highway Administrator
April 15, 1970

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