Interstate Highways
Dwight D. Eisenhower System of Interstate and Defense Highways
After WWII the American Federal Government took over road building from the States. An impressive road system resulted, but at what price?
The transportation of America as a nation was actually built on railroads and rivers. A “National Road” stretching from Maryland to Missouri had been constructed in 1815, but after the advent of the steam locomotive it saw little use and fell into disrepair. By 1919 America nothing in the way of a consolidated national road system. In that year, as a young Army Officer, Dwight Eisenhower traveled from Washington D.C to San Francisco by road with an Army detachment. It took them over 2 months to make the journey and he reported long stretches of poorly maintained dirt roads and rickety bridges.
By WWII Eisenhower was Joint Commander of all allied forces in Europe, and he took note of the efficiency and military usefulness of the German Autobahn system of roads. He noted that while railroads were easily disabled by bombing these road systems were much more difficult to destroy. After the war when he became President, Eisenhower became a staunch advocate for a system of roads for America.
In 1954 a federal law was passed authorizing $175 million in federal funds for the construction of a national interstate highway system. This was just a drop in the bucket, and in 1956 the Federal-aid Highway Act authorized 25 billion dollars for road building. This is the era of civil defense, post war prosperity, and the dawning of the Cold War. A grand plan for over 41,000 miles of highways was devised, and construction was slated to last for 12 years.
Based on the design of the autobahns, these highways were meant to be limited access high speed transportation arteries. Even if your home or farm was directly adjacent to the Interstate, you could not build your driveway onto it. Only designed access points were allowed. This improves travel speeds, and lessens congestion. The highways were generally designed for speeds around 70 miles per hour. Hardly any good or service can be obtained in America today that does not at some point travel on the Interstate Highways.
Over 30 years later in the mid 1970’s the system was declared completed at a net total cost of about 135 Billion Dollars (only 90 billion over budget, but maybe somewhat closer to the mark if one calculates for inflation). In 1990, over 46,000 miles of roads were renamed the “Dwight D. Eisenhower System of Interstate and Defense Highways.” America’s Highways now rivaled the roads of ancient Rome for total number of miles covered.
This is a major transportation accomplishment, but came at a price. The federal government has used it’s federal highway funding powers which have become crucial to the States as leverage to force State Legislatures to comply with its wishes. Many consider this a blatant fiscal coercion of the States and contrary to their rights under the Constitution. So far the 55 mph speed limit, uniform national intoxication level and drinking age, mandatory seatbelts, and a few other laws have been forced through using this leverage. To the horror of States Rights advocates everywhere, the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld this type of fund withholding. Such a situation would doubtless have caused a Civil War in 1850, but seems to gain very little notice from the citizens of modern America. Several of these laws, especially the seatbelt law, are blatant infringements upon the Constitutional Rights of Americans, and would have been almost certainly found so by the Supreme Court any time up until the 1970’s.
