| 1947 |
Commissioner Thomas MacDonald and the Federal Works Administrator, Major General Philip B. Fleming, announce the general locations of the first designated routes of the National System of Interstate Highways (as it is called). The routes total 37,681 miles, including 2,882 miles of urban thoroughfares. The remaining mileage of the 40,000-mile Interstate System, as authorized by the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1944, was reserved for auxiliary urban routes.
| First designation of routes on the "National System of Interstate Highways." |
|
| 1956 |
The Missouri State Highway Commission awards a construction contract for 13.3 miles of U.S. 66 (I-44) in Laclede County. BPR District Engineer S. W. O'Brien telephones Headquarters to confirm that it is the first Interstate contract awarded under the 1956 Federal-Aid Highway Act. The State also awards a contract for a project to pave a 2.6-mile section of U.S. 40 (I-70) in St. Charles County (west from the Missouri River), which will be the first on which actual construction is started under the Act. The State posts a sign at the site to that effect. (See September 26, 1956.)
Historic segment of I-70 in Laclede County, MO, in June 1961.
(Photo courtesy of the Missouri Highway and Transportation Department) |
|
| 1990 |
Iraq invades Kuwait, taking foreign hostages, including three FHWA employees--Monte Darden, Hristaki Sofokidis, and John Turley. They were on their last day in the country closing out a 22-year technical assistance program. On December 2, shortly after their release, they arrive in Germany.
|
