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Welcome to the Eisenhower Interstate Highway System Web site
The Federal Highway Administration invites you to explore this Web site devoted to the Dwight D. Eisenhower System of Interstate and Defense Highways. From the start on June 29, 1956, the Eisenhower Interstate System has been known as the Greatest Public Works Project in History. On this Web site, you will find information about the history of the Eisenhower Interstate System and how it affects each of our lives daily, not just as a means of travel, but as a part of our culture and the American way of life.
This Web site is dedicated to the visionaries and leaders of past generations who created and funded the Interstate System as well as the State and Federal officials, private contractors, and members of national organizations who helped make the United States the most mobile country in the world. As we honor the past, there is no higher calling for those of us in the present generation of transportation officials than to ensure Eisenhower Interstate System continues to serve America for decades to come. |
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Interstate Fact of the Day
Francis C. “Frank” Turner joined the U.S. Bureau of
Public Roads (BPR) after graduating from what is now Texas A&M
University in 1929. After a career that took him to Arkansas,
the Alaska Highway, and the Philippines, he became Assistant to the
Commissioner of Public Roads, Thomas H. MacDonald. He was
Executive Secretary of the Clay Committee appointed by President
Dwight D. Eisenhower to develop a funding plan for the Interstate
System and other highway improvements, and served as BPR liaison to
the congressional committees that developed the Federal-Aid
Highway Act of 1956. Through the biggest years of
Interstate construction, he was involved in Interstate location and
design decisions around the country. Under President Richard
M. Nixon, Turner became the Federal Highway Administrator in 1969,
the only person to rise through the ranks to the top
position. In accepting Turner’s resignation in 1972,
President Nixon said:
As an architect of the interstate system, you should feel a very
special sense of pride in the fact that this, the largest public
works program in world history, has been administered with
uncompromising integrity and steadfast dedication to public
trust. This record fully merits the gratitude of all our
fellow citizens, and, in their behalf as well as that of your many
friends and colleagues throughout Government, I want to express my
deep appreciation for your service and my best wishes for the years
ahead.
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