Introduction
Automobile culture is a fundamental part of American culture as a whole. As discussed in previous blogs, while the majority of the world relies on public transit, Americans almost exclusively rely on personal automobiles. Ever since Henry Ford released his Model T in 1908, the American market fell in love with private transportation and never looked back, as this graph from NPR shows:
One of the biggest reasons for the automobile’s dominance in America is because of the infrastructure built around the industry. In this blog, I will discuss one of the greatest feats in modern American history; the Interstate Highway System.
Conception
While many people point to President Dwight Eisenhower’s signing of the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 as the birth of the interstate system, the idea for such a network was actually conceived about twelve years prior, with the passing of the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1944, according to the United States Department of Transportation. However, President Eisenhower’s bill was the first piece of national legislation that appropriated the necessary funds to start the project, as well as create a coordinated, national effort to start building highways. For this reason, Eisenhower is often called the “Father of the Interstate System”. 
Development
The 1956 bill authorized the following:
- The construction of a 41,000 mile network of roads (later increased to accommodate the roughly 46,000 mile network now)
- $26 billion in funding (90% of which would come from the national government)
- An increase in the gasoline tax to pay for funds
The main goals of the interstate system were to connect major cities, make travelling across the country easier/safer, and allow a way for citizens to evacuate in case of a nuclear attack. Some defining characteristics of the new highways were the fact that they had at least four lanes, and had no at-grade crossings (using overpasses and underpasses instead of intersections to change routes). 
The image on the top shows a regular intersection, while the image on the bottom shows a system of overpasses and underpasses. The reason why intersections were removed was to allow high speed, uninterrupted travel.
The Interstate System Today
The interstate system is one of the most used public utilities today. According to statistics, an average of 13,000 vehicles pass through any given interstate everyday; some corridors (such as i-95), see 72,000 cars a day on average, with max numbers reaching 300,000. While there are undoubtedly flaws with the system, it remains one of the most important things in American daily life to this day.
The introduction of the Interstate system was extremely crucial in the development of modern America, as it facilitated more growth, the option to travel, and expanded the abilities of everyday Americans. I’m not sure how many people are familiar with National History Day, but in my high school, each student had to compete in NHD which was a nation-wide history project (the topics varied from year to year) but my point is that my best friend did their NHD project on Eisenhower’s Interstate System and how it affected America, and I think it’s neat that this was your final topic. I really enjoyed reading your passion posts this semester, and hope that you continue to look further into these topics in the future!
In today’s day and age, the interstate highway system is so prominent that I could not imagine travel without it. It does make sense that we did not have it before, considering how we had to build across our country, but it is something I had not thought about. These highways are essential for high speed travel for many people, including myself back at home, and I am definitely glad that I have them. If only traffic didn’t exist! (But that can’t really be helped)
The interstate system when it was made was one of the best infrastructure systems in the world. Now a days it is considered mediocre. Due to lack of funding it has not been updated. With recent legislation things are looking up but it remains to be seen what will occur.