Friday, June 30, 2006 - Page updated at 12:00 AM

U.S. interstate system turns 50

By Sadia Latifi

McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — There's a lot to celebrate about the U.S. interstate highway system, which turned 50 Thursday.

For one thing, here's the number of traffic lights on its 47,000 miles: zero. For another, here's the minimum lane width: 12 feet. And the minimum right-shoulder width: 10 feet. Those are three reasons interstates, mile for mile, are twice as safe as all other U.S. roads.

Here's more on the country's main arteries, which President Eisenhower championed as a means of moving military materiel quickly from coast to coast:

• Interstates make up 1 percent of total U.S. road miles, but they carry one-quarter of all traffic and 40 percent of all truck traffic.

• About 60,000 people ride over the average mile of interstate highway daily.

• Pre-interstate, drivers could cover about 250 miles in a dawn-to-dark day on the road. Interstates doubled that.

• Why do interstates feel more congested these days? Because they are. In the past 10 years, their traffic volume increased 29 percent. Total interstate lane miles increased 4 percent in the same period.

• Interstates today have a fatality rate of about 1 per 100 million vehicle miles. That compares with 2 per 100 million vehicle miles on other roads. Curved exit ramps (versus right-angle turns) and minimum speeds get much of the credit.

• Feel hemmed in by trucks when you're on interstates? That's logical. Freight distribution by truck has been growing 12 percent a year since 1956.

• What state has no interstates? Alaska. Hawaii has highways that are considered interstates because they're paid for out of the same federal fund and built to the same standards, but they're designated with an H instead of an I.

• Which cities have the worst interstate access? Buffalo, N.Y.; Dover, Del.; Fresno, Calif.; Jefferson City, Mo.; Myrtle Beach, S.C.; and Tulsa, Okla., according to the Federal Highway Administration.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003095289_interstatekr30.html

When I was in Hawaii I was told they have interstates because the roads go to military installations. When Eisenhower instituted the interstate system it was to facilitate the movement of military vehicles.

From http://www.tfhrc.gov/pubrds/summer96/p96su10.htm:

Long before taking office, Eisenhower recognized the importance of highways.

His first realization of the value of good highways occurred in 1919, when he participated in the U.S. Army's first transcontinental motor convoy from Washington, D.C., to San Francisco.

When Eisenhower and a friend heard about the convoy, they volunteered to go along as observers, "partly for a lark and partly to learn," as he later recalled. On the way west, the convoy experienced all the woes known to motorists and then some - an endless series of mechanical difficulties; vehicles stuck in mud or sand; trucks and other equipment crashing through wooden bridges; roads as slippery as ice or dusty or the consistency of "gumbo"; extremes of weather from desert heat to Rocky Mountain freezing; and, for the soldiers, worst of all, speeches, speeches, and more speeches in every town along the way. On Sept. 5, 1919, after 62 days on the road, the convoy reached San Francisco, where it was greeted with medals, a parade, and more speeches.

During World War II, Gen. Eisenhower saw the advantages Germany enjoyed because of the autobahn network. He also noted the enhanced mobility of the Allies when they fought their way into Germany.

These experiences shaped Eisenhower's views on highways. "The old convoy," he said, "had started me thinking about good, two-lane highways, but Germany had made me see the wisdom of broader ribbons across the land."

While highways are very useful so were the public transportation systems that the Highway Lobby vampirically destroyed in their quest for money.