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Interactive: How has the Interstate Highway System transformed the U.S.?

The Interstate Highway System, praised as the biggest U.S. public works project, will turn 70 years old in 2026.
The system originated after World War I when a 1919 military convoy, involving a young Dwight D. Eisenhower, revealed poor road conditions.
The 1956 Federal-Aid Highway Act, supported by Eisenhower, authorized building 41,000 miles of highway at a $25 billion cost, forever changing urban landscapes.
A 2019 Transportation Research Board report states most roads still have original foundations needing "complete rebuilding from the subbase up" and calls for raising annual investment from $23 billion to $57 billion.
Ongoing congestion, deterioration, and social division have prompted widespread highway revolts and emphasize the need for coordinated federal and state investment to modernize the system.

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Partisanship and Permanence: How Congress Contested the Origins of the Interstate Highway System and the Future of American Infrastructure

Partisanship and Permanence: How Congress Contested the Origins of the Interstate Highway System and the Future of American Infrastructure - Volume 5 Issue 1

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