History of The Interstate System

At the turn of the century several car makers where offering expensive and luxurious vehicles to only the wealthiest of American’s.  Until a young man named Henry Ford had the idea to make an automobile that was affordable to the common man! And so in August of 1908, Ford introduced his revolutionary new Ford Model A. from 1908 to 1931,millions and millions of model A’s where built, and more than 50% of the cars on the road at that time where Fords. “By the late 1930s, the pressure for construction of transcontinental superhighways was building. It even reached the White House, where President Franklin D. Roosevelt repeatedly expressed interest in construction of a network of toll superhighways as a way of providing more jobs for people out of work.”(Creating the Interstate System) While there were a few small acts signed in the 30’s and 40’s, The Highway act of 1956 signed by President Eisenhower, allotted for $25 billon dollars to be spent.“The 1956 act called for uniform interstate design standards to accommodate traffic forecast for 1975”(Creating the Interstate System) over forty one thousand miles of roads where built following the Highway Act of 1956, and from then on out America, and business worldwide was changed forever.

Source:

"Article." Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956: Creating the Interstate System. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2013.