Reasons why Eisenhower proposed the Interstate

 

The main reason that Eisenhower proposed the Interstate system was for security and evacuation purposes. A secondary reason was the high demand for Urban sprawl. This aspect of his proposal was alluring for both citizens and business professionals.

Security and Evacuation-Since World War II security was a big concern much like it became after the 9/11 attacks. Large cities were potentially large targets with high congestion. The loss of life would be great. The interstate provided a means for quick evacuation and would give the military a faster way to transport supplies. The Interstate highway system original construction was made like arteries in a heart. It divided neighborhoods into districts by separating neighborhoods by means of impassible highway arteries. The arteries were directed towards the center of the city where the most economic growth was. The result of this separated the city into districts much like it separated the more suburban communities. As the highway network became more concentrated in the more populated downtown areas it expanded outwards back toward the city limits and further. The reason for this structure choice was for quick evacuation. This was because the system was being built at the height of the Cold War and nuclear fallout was a very real fear.

Urban Sprawl- Beginning of the 1950’s migration from the major cities to the surrounding areas had increased substantially. This was because the land prices outside the cities were so low due to World War II. Business owners and developers jumped at the chance to start new outside the city.The prices and starting new were things that were not only attractive to business persons but also to citizens and soldiers returning home from war wanting to start families. The cities were still the main source of jobs so there was a need for a way for people to “commute”.

Cause of the Building of the Interstate

 

The two events that gave Eisenhower the idea of the Interstate that we know today happened before he even became president. While General Dwight David Eisenhower served in World War II he was impressed by how the Autobahn in Germany held up in times of war. In enemy attacks the consequences are much greater to destroy a rail way than an expansive road way system. He noted that the Autobahn was far more durable in times of war also. While our US railway systems would become useless until repaired even if only a small stretch was damaged, the Autobahn was still useable after an attack. The second event that gave Eisenhower the idea for our intricate interstate highway system was when he and a caravan were carrying military supplies from Washington D.C to Union Square in San Francisco. They departed on July 7^th 1919 and the journey took 62 days.  Within one year of becoming president in 1953 he began his quest to create the Interstate system

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.

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.

 

Introduction!

Welcome to Team One's blog, Our team is made up by Nick, Guimard, and Leanne, All three of us are commuter student's at Bridgewater State University, and also work full time. What this equates to is many hours’ spent commuting each week.  We all wanted to pick a topic that was relevant to us, and also interesting and we wanted to know more about. Each time we come to school we all travel over 30 minutes to school. One thing we all have in common, is the use of highways to get to school, and to travel to work. Without these highway's we would spend much more time commuting and sitting in traffic on congested roads. Many people do not realize the immense impact the U.S. highway system has had on America, and specifically American business!

 In this blog we will be discussing 8 major reasons how the interstate system in the United States impacted American Business!