Highway History

The Interstate System

History

• Celebrating 50 Years: The Eisenhower Interstate Highway System
  • Highway History Photo Gallery

• Federal Aid Road Act of 1916: Building the Foundation Summer 1996
  • A Progressive Leader - Logan Waller Page
  • Father of Good Roads in the U.S. Senate - Sen. John Hollis Bankhead
  • President Woodrow Wilson - Motorist Extraordinaire
• From 1916 to 1939: The Federal-State Partnership at Work Summer 1996
  • Man of the Century - Thomas H. MacDonald
  • The Concept Man - Herbert S. Fairbank
• Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956: Creating the Interstate System Summer 1996
  • The Inside Man - Francis V. Du Pont
  • Steady Hand in Control - Charles D. "Cap" Curtiss
  • Agent of Change - Francis C. "Frank" Turner
  • Co-author of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 - Sen. Albert Gore, Sr.
  • Co-author of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 - Rep. George H. Fallon
  • The Highway Trust Fund
  • The Last Piece of the Puzzle - Rep. Hale Boggs
  • The Catalyst Who Changed America - President Dwight David Eisenhower
  • The Edge City
  • Address of Vice President Richard Nixon to the Governors Conference Lake George, New York July 12, 1954 Online only
• Three States Claim First Interstate Highway Summer 1996
• Artists Look at Roads Summer 1996
• Engineering Marvels Summer 1996
• Road Movies Summer 1996
• Poetry of the Open Road Summer 1996
• Visionaries of the Interstate Honored at Gala Celebration Online only
  • Gala Photo Gallery

• Designating the Urban Interstates
  • Design Standards 1944
  • Naming the Interstate System
  • Our Cities Their Role in the National Economy
  • Urban Design Principles

• Origins and Construction of the Interstate System by W. Lee Mertz
  • W. Lee Mertz Biography
  • Origins of the Interstate explores the critical years in the conceptualization of the Interstate System culminating in the 1956 Highway Act
  • Building the Interstate issues that affected the early years of construction
  • The Bragdon Committee an interesting footnote to the Eisenhower years
  • Memories of 499 Recollections from Mertz's work at the Regional Highway Planning Committee on 499 Pennsylvania Avenue

• The Man Who Loved Roads May/June 2002
  • Harry S. Truman on Good Roads

• The Man Who Changed America, Part I March/April 2003
  • Icky
  • Eisenhower's Army Convoy Notes 11-3-1919
  • The Reichsautobahnen
  • GM's Better Highways Award
  • President-Elect Dwight D. Eisenhower on Good Roads
  • Truman and Eisenhower: When the Man Who Loved Roads Met the Man Who Changed America
  • Promoting Highway Improvement: Project Adequate Roads & GM'S Better Highway Award
  • Address of Vice President Richard Nixon to the Governors Conference Lake George, New York July 12, 1954 On line only
  • General Lucius D. Clay - The President's Man
  • General Lucius D. Clay's Testimony
  • Statement of General Lucius D. Clay Chairman, President's Advisory Committee on a National Highway Program
  • The Governors' Special Highway Committee Summary and Recommendations
  • Target: $27 Billion - The 1955 Estimate
  • Senator Harry Flood Byrd of Virginia - The Pay-As-You-Go Man
  • Statement by Hon. Harry F. Byrd, of Virginia, Relative to the Clay Commission Highway Report.
  • Secretary of Commerce Sinclair Weeks
  • Civil Defense, 1955

• The Man Who Changed America, Part II May/June 2003
  • Interview with General Bragdon on Study of the Road Program
  • Eisenhower's Meeting with General Bragdon, 4/6/60
  • Dwight D. Eisenhower Highway
  • Eisenhower Memorial Bore
  • The Eisenhower Expressway Chicago, Illinois
  • President Eisenhower's Big Day June 29, 1956
  • B. D. Tallamy Reports on Highway Program During First Year
  • DDE Instructions to Bragdon - 1959
  • Notes on Cabinet Meeting January 24, 1958
  • Bragdon-DDE Meeting - Nov. 30, 1959
  • The Quotable Ike
  • We Can Take Pride In The Progress

• Rex Whitton-the Man Who Saved the Interstate System
  • Rex Whitton Photo Gallery

• Kill The Bill: Why the U.S. House of Representatives Rejected the Interstate System in 1955

• Original Intent: Purpose of the Interstate System 1954-1956

• The Greatest Decade 1956-1966 Part 1 Essential to the National Interest Public Roads Mar/Apr 2006
  • The Greatest Decade 1956-1966 Part 1 Essential to the National Interest Extended Text-Only Version
  • AASHO Road Test
  • Bertram D. Tallamy
  • The Golden Fleece Why Was The $27 Billion Estimate So Wrong?
  • Ike's Grand Plan
  • Right of Passage: The Controversy Over Vertical Clearance on the Interstate System
  • Shields and Signs

• The Greatest Decade 1956-1966 Part 2 The Battle of Its Life Public Roads May/Jun 2006
  • The Greatest Decade 1956-1966 Part 2 The Battle of Its Life Extended Text-Only Version
  • The Best Counter to Critics
  • The Man Who Saved the Interstate System
  • Section 4(F)
  • The Size of the Job
  • What Comes After 1972?

• Historical Documents

Miscellaneous

• The Genie in the Bottle September/October 2000

• The Dwight D. Eisenhower System of Interstate and Defense Highways - Engineering Data

• Moving The Goods: As The Interstate Era Begins
  • Excerpt from "First Progress Report of the Highway Cost Allocation Study"
  • Figures and Tables from "First Progress Report of the Highway Cost Allocation Study"

• One Mile in Five May/June 2000
  • Frank Turner on 1-in-5

• How Many Interstate Programs Were There?

• Along the Interstates: Seeing the Roadside

• Happy 30th Anniversary: National System of Interstate and Defense Highways

• Happy 40th Anniversary: National System of Interstate and Defense Highways

• The Year of the Interstate January/February 2006

• Interstate System Conditions and Performance

• Origins Of The Interstate Maintenance Program

• An Engineer's Thoughts on the Interstate System