Highway Facts and Figures

Highway Facts and Figures

 

The finished interstate system that some of us drive on daily, and have all at least been on is made up of over seventy four thousand miles of paved highway. You can recall from our last blog post that President Eisenhower signed the largest federal highway act in 1956. Nationwide design standards, include:

 

·                     a minimum of two lanes in each direction

·                     lanes that were 12 ft in width

·                     a 10-foot right paved shoulder

·                     design speeds of 50–70 mph (Highway System)

 

“The procedure for naming the highways is systematic. Major routes are designated by single- or two-digit numbers. If a route runs north-south, it is given an odd number, and if a route runs east-west, an even number. For north-south routes, numbering conventions begin in the west. Thus I-5 runs north and south along the West Coast, while I-95 runs north and south along the East Coast. For east-west routes, numbers begin in the south.(Highway system)

 

The longest Interstate is I-90, which runs from Seattle, Washington to Boston, Massachusetts, a distance of 3,020.54 miles (milesurfer highway)”

 

 “All but four State capitals are directly served by the Interstate System. Those not directly served are:

 

·         Juneau, AK

 

·         Dover, DE

 

·         Jefferson City, MO

 

·         Pierre, SD (Interstate system)”

Before the 41,000 miles of interstate were built, there were just 14 McDonalds restaurants, now there are over 13,000.

 

Source:

"Interstate System -Design - FHWA." Interstate System -Design - FHWA. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.