February 11
| 1942 | President Franklin Roosevelt approves the Alaska Highway project to furnish a supply route linking the airfields established by Canada and the U.S. and to provide an overland route to Alaska. During 1942, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, including several units of African-American troops, and contractors under PRA open a pioneer route. (See November 20, 1942.) In 1943, PRA shifted much of the highway onto a better permanent alignment and built it to a higher standard. In September 1943, at the peak of operations, 1,850 PRA employees and 14,100 civilian employees of 81 contractors were at work. |
| 1975 | To stimulate the economy and relieve unemployment, President Gerald Ford releases $2 billion in Federal-aid highway funds, which had been impounded by various Administrations, to combat inflationary trends and for other economic reasons. By May, more than half the funds were obligated. |
