Eisenhower Interstate Highway System Analysis

First, mass motorization and increased road standards were results of inappropriate urban planning. Every two households in the US had one registered automobile on average in the mid 1930s, which is earlier than many European countries. According to this high rate of motorization, high road standards were developed by planners and engineers quickly, and cities adopted to this pattern easily. After the mortgage policies in the 1950s (1), the interstate systems destroyed urban neighborhoods and created divided urban systems by using wide big roads, so urban sprawl increased. Also, low vehicle taxes and gasoline prices reduced the cost of driving, and increased this car travel demand over time. Additionally, the government subsidized most of the gas taxes, tolls, and registration fees, and the result was the lack of public transportation in many US cities. Especially after World War II, privately owned transit systems increased ticket prices, cut services, and prompted people to own a private car. In 1970s, some of the US cities started to promote walking and cycling with appropriate amenities (1), but it was not enough to change people’s travel behaviors. Lastly, maybe most importantly, zoning laws do not allow mixed land-use planning which facilitates shorter trips between amenities in most of the US cities. Zoning laws, also requires a minimum number of parking lots per usage, rather than the maximum numbers of limited parking such as most European

The United State has always been weak in public transportation and mass transit tools. California was once supposed to be different and revolutionized. Trolleys connecting the suburbs to the city and business districts was the main reason why cities expanded vertically. These mass transit tools organized the transits in an extremely environmentally friendly way. But the venue of cars and the thought of independence flattered americans pushing them to each buy a car, synonym of their independence. Now the trains and connecting public transportations have practically disappeared and are irrelevant.

Automobiles play a major role in today's society. Almost every American owns at least one motorized transportation vehicle. Some say they make our lives better by reaching places faster than before. Others say they are a harmful to the environment. Have they made our society better or worse? They may be fast, but do we as humans want our environment to suffer because of time. Face it, cars pollute. And they release destructive chemicals into the air. Air pollution can threaten the health of many subjects in the environment including human beings.

There are more than 253 Million cars and trucks in the U.S at this moment. That sounds like a lot but really it isn’t that many. For every 1.3 cars or trucks there is only one person in the United States. With this many cars and trucks in the U.S. there is bound to be some controversy about which one is better. Many people may prefer trucks over cars and in vice versa. They both have their advantages and disadvantages. While trucks are better at hauling or towing things, cars have better gas mileage and can hold more people.

Cars in the 1920s completely impacted daily life and greatly influenced the cars that we use everyday. Back before cars were popular, everyone traveled by horse and buggy. They had no source of cart heating, nothing to absorb shock, wheels without tires. All they had for streets back then were dirt roads with a top layer of gravel. This was not a problem for horses and buggies, but cars didn’t handle well in the mud. Because of this, the invention of the paved road we use now came about. After that, they needed a more organized and efficient way to navigate to faraway places, since the people could now travel at ease. An interstate highway system was created as a result of the First Federal Highway Act, passed in 1921. The highways heading

The author stated how on route 66 there is something new to see on every corner and when you drive on an interstate there are nothing but rode. On an interstate you do not see anything big and beautiful, the only thing you see is a gas station and maybe a hotel. The only time you will really see anything like restaurant is if you turn on an exit ramp a long way away. The Jefferson Highway sits right on a river, after that it is twisty two lane roads that wind through the hills and into the West St. Louis County. As the author said, "It is one gorgeous vista after another." If the Jefferson highway is important to people any other highway may be important as well, referring to Route 66. You would not be able to see those things on an interstate.

The National Interstate and Defense Highway Act was passed in 1956 by the federal government and it authorized $25 billon dollars to build 41,000 miles of interstate highways over the next ten years. With Henry Ford inventing the assembly line in his automobile factory, they were able to make automobiles cheaper for the public. For the first time Americans were able to own a car and not have to be extremely wealthy. With all these new people driving more they needed to expand and make new roads. Americans weren’t relying on trains for their transportation anymore.

The James W. Dalton Highway stretches 441 miles through the Brooks Mountains. Starting just north of Fairbanks and ending just south of the Arctic Sea, the route is frequented by truckers, bringing supplies to oil towns. Coldfoot, Wiseman, and Deadhorse remain the only inhabited places along the road.

Like normal roads, the National Road began to deteriorate over time and because of that, the federal government stopped funding the road and it was abandoned at Vandalia, IL for “political and practical reasons”. Originally the plans called for it to stretch from Baltimore to St. Louis but the rapid growth of railroads led to the project being abandoned. Even though it never quite reached the final goal, it did eventually stretch 800 miles. Now, present day National Road is now part of U.S. Route 40. Roads today are either under construction or in need of construction. In the year 1811, Washington and Jefferson advocated on the idea to aid western expansion, so work on the “National Road” or “Cumberland Road”. This is the first road that was surveyed by Congress in 1806-7 and built from 1811-37. This road branched from the Cumberland, MD. In order to create this massive road, it had to under very crucial

As the highway system made land more accessible, development of these new pieces of land was heavily encouraged. And due to the reliability of travel time for shipments of goods, “just in time” delivery was far more feasible. This reduced the warehouse costs and led to an increase of manufacturing efficiency. The Interstate Highway system not only allowed for quick travel, but expanded the geographical range and options for consumers, which resulted in larger selections and lower consumer prices. This caused an increased retail competition. With companies able to supply their products to much larger geographical areas, and less expensively, the Highway system enhanced inter-regional access and created a genuinely national domestic market. As the Interstate Highway System made more cheap land available, the expansion of residential, industrial and commercial construction exponentially increased. This indirectly led to an expansion of jobs. The highway itself resulted in more jobs as for every $1 billion investment over 40, 000, non-construction jobs, could be made and currently the highway employs close to 150,000 a

In the early 1900s, the United States of America would see the introduction of a piece of technology that would change the way we as a society would look at travel. Henry Ford began production of Model T, the vehicle soon found its way into many American homes. By 1927, the Ford Motor Company had sold nearly 15 million of the mass produced, affordable car. The automobile was no longer a luxury but, a necessity for Americans. During the infancy of the automobile, the roads where nothing more than a mere rutted up path through the country side. Though shortly, people realized the need for better roads. The only problem was, who was going to pay the bill?

National Railroads (Cumberland)- National Railroads were built by the use of federal money which proceeded in stages. This road was a journey from Cumberland, Maryland to Vandalia, Illinois and would provide important infrastructure for economic development. Although, after the advent of canals, railroads, and the telegraph this will soon become less important after the 1850s.

Highways made a vast contribution on the geographic landscape of America in a multitude of ways. In the past, roads throughout the United States have been neglected since the rise of railroads. The only existing roads that were located outside the cities were farm-to-market roads, which were unpaved, poorly marked. During this time, specifically during the 1910s, automobiles were highly expensive and only bought by the rich. As time continued, automobiles prices began to decrease, which resulted in an increase the amount of cars bought. With a larger quantity of the population owning cars, highways had to be reconstructed. The rebuilding of highways affected the United States because it resulted in society’s ability to travel vast distances

The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 pushed for transcontinental highways across America to connect the nation in a safer fashion. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the bill into law to improve “speedy, safe transcontinental travel” through a 40,000 mile interstate highway. Since the Cold War pressured Americans into building the highways, support for their construction grew as they provided quick evacuation routes for cities that could be target areas from the impending threat of the Soviet Union. The Act provided that the federal government would pay 90 percent of the cost for building the highway and the law portioned out $26 billion to pay for the construction. The government collected the money for the construction by increasing the

Family and heritage are very important aspects to human life. To begin, this is what is addressed in the poems,”Freeway 280,” by Lorna Dee Cervantes and Simon Ortiz’s,”Hunger in New York City.” Both poems share a great amount of similarities like the way they address the importance of family and heritage and the message of both poems. They address the importance of family and heritage by using objects or feelings, metaphorically, to express their family or heritage. Not only that, but both poems share the message that a person’s past stays with them no matter where or how far they go. Ultimately, both poems address the importance of family and heritage the same way and also share the same message.