The Dwight D. Eisenhower Interstate System

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Today's society relies heavily on roads, and today just about all roads are paved, and we have the convenience of Interstates and US Highways to travel on. Before Dwight Eisenhower's Interstate System, and before the United States Numbered Highway system, there were no standards to which roads were built, most were not even paved, there were no required numbering systems, and ones that did exist were not organized in efficient ways. The US Route System, and later The Interstate System, have promoted massive growth, easier travel, greater tourism, and easier logistics in the United States.

The United States Highway system came out of a necessity to be able to travel across the country as fast as possible, for both civilian and military use, as the old auto trails of the late 1800's to early 1900's did not facilitate efficient transportation. The old auto trails were sometimes not clearly marked and unpaved, unimproved road bed, especially out west (Weingroff). The old auto trails also took longer than their current counterparts because of both the earth-moving technology at the time, and the fact that in order to operate these trails, the towns along them needed to pay dues, and if a town did not want to pay, the trail did not go through the town; so more often then not, a trail went out of the way to accommodate a settlement who had paid their dues, even if it wasn't the fastest or easiest route to the overall destination (Weingroff).

A new system of auto trails was needed, and talk of a national highway system soon began to take place. Wisconsin was the first state to use numbers when designating their highways instead of names, which soon created some favoritism when some routes were given smaller numbers, as some peopl...

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...inistration. 7 Apr. 2011. Web. 19 Apr. 2011. .

Kaiser, Cameron. "Floodgap Roadgap --Old Highway 395, Part 3: The Cabrillo Freeway (CA 163; US 395 1948-1969);Kearny Villa Road (US 395, Old I-15);Pomerado Road to Poway (US 395 1935-1950)." Welcome to Floodgap Systems' WWW Server. 2004. Web. 20 Apr. 2011. .

McNichol, Dan. "Contra Productive." RoadsBridges.com and Roads and Bridges Magazine - Road Construction & Maintenance. Dec. 2006. Web. 20 Apr. 2011. .

Weingroff, Richard F. "From Names to Numbers: The Origins of the U.S. Numbered Highway System -Highway History - FHWA." Home | Federal Highway Administration. Spring 1997. Web. 19 Apr. 2011. .

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