The Federal Highway Act or National Interstate and Defense Highways was signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956. It allocated $25 billion dollars for the construction of 41,000 miles of interstate highway over a 20 year time frame. President Eisenhower adamantly supported The Federal Highway Act mainly due to his experiences as an Army officer during the U.S. Army’s first Transcontinental Motor Convoy across the United States on the Lincoln Highway in 1919. The purpose of the convoy was to dramatize the need for better interstate highways for sake of national defense. Eisenhower argued that troops needed to be able to move cross country in a timely fashion if America was ever attacked. After the completion of the highways, the cross country travel time of the convoy in 1919 was cut down to 2 weeks from 2 months.
The highways also resulted in an increase in suburbanization of America. The expanded roadway infrastructure made commutes between urban cities to suburbs possible and much quicker. The highways also resulted in much economical benefits for America. It connected cities all across America, becoming the link for interstate commerce to this day. America’s economic strength wouldn’t be where it is if it weren’t for The Federal Highway Act.
I agree with the Johnny and Sehyung, poor people were forced to leave their homes due the developement of these highways. And when the professor mentioned in class that, when they wanted to do the same with a richer neighborhood but they didn’t because their voices were heard I was not surprised. We live in a country where everything is about money. Basically if you do not have money or power you are nobody. And this is coming from a country which preaches equality and freedom. This is not just America though, it’s world wide. That green paper has become the most important asset anyone can obtain.
I agree that the Federal Highway Act resulted such a great deals for Americans and shaped the US as a whole. However, the way how they evicted people living there for a long time or sometimes most of their lives. They should have supported them more and provide them enough money to move and time to find a new house.
The exact same events happened to South Korea, my home country right now. The development of highways and new buildings is all over the places like the cities and suburbans. There are some problems because the poor people are forced to get out of their town, much same as america history had done. I wonder the development of town is just good thing without any concern of the poor.
I agree with you that Americans economic strength wouldn’t be where it is if weren’t for the Federal Highway Act. It does provide accessibility to remote areas, people and materials can move from place to place and there is an ease in migration. On the other hand, the highway also has an impact on the environment through pollution, traffic congestion, and accidents. Yet, I believe it was a successful decision by the president to allocate money for this Highway project. Now, which is almost fifty years later we are enjoying this convenience of driving to our destination.
Some negative impacts of the Federal Highway Act are important to remember. The availability of highways and roads connecting inner cities with newly built communities like Levittown in Long Island created the suburbia in the post war era. Levittown is considered the prototype of a planned community with mass produced houses, once home to over 80,000 people. In addition it is a synonym for the American dream of a home away from the dangers of inner cities. However, Levittown did not accept blacks for years, and is an example of how blacks were forced to stay in the urban communities. In this way it can be argued that highways increased segregation, and favored a white population who had access to better housing and jobs. In addition, highways destroyed many communities. This is true in the Bronx, where communities were cut apart and quality of life decreased with the construction of Cross Bronx Expressway and other infrastructures built during the reign of Robert Moses.
From economic perspective, the Federal High Way Act 1956 was a good idea to put federal money into building new highways, bridges and tunnels. More construction jobs were created. New highways also changed the way of people’s commute. On the other hand, building highways was a destruction of the natural landscape. Because of new highways, some quiet villages and small towns have to suffer heavy traffic on weekends. Their quiet life is disturbed.
I think the highways greatly increased the prosperity of America. Makes logistics much easier and overall transportation of goods for businesses better.
An interesting fact about the one in charge of the Highway Act. He was actually color blind so when the time came to choose the color of the signs which today is green in the US and most of Europe and the world its blue its because he thought he was choosing blue.
I also want to add that the Highway Act benefitted more than just national defense. Building more Highways encourage people to drive, and it led to the car industries which helped boost the U.S economy.
I think the Federal Highway Act brought on by Eisenhower was a great movement to shape the US as a whole. Not many countries have such a great system of transportation as the US does. Although the reasoning behind military/defense may be questionable, certainly the highway has helped shape the car industry and the car culture ever since its development.