Interstate Highway System 50th anniversary shirt, 2006
notes: label: Description
content: In the 1910s and early 1920s, America’s long-distance roads included the Lincoln Highway, a transcontinental automobile road begun in 1913 by private interests, and several marked “trails” for adventurous motorists. These roads had minimal improvements to grading, paving, and signage, and they did not serve all areas of the nation. In the mid-1920s, state and federal governments mapped out the Federal-Aid Highway System, a national grid of numbered highways such as US 1 and US 66. In 1944, the federal government approved a postwar construction project named the National System of Interstate Highways. Construction of highways with improved engineering and safety standards, such as limited access, high speed, grade separation, and low grades in hills or mountains, began in 1956. This shirt, which bears the inscription Interstate @ 50, is one of several commemorative clothing items designed for a team of highway and transportation professionals who drove from San Francisco to Washington in 2006. The shirt belonged to Alan Pisarski, a transportation analyst, consultant, and author. The purpose of the convoy was to remind the nation of the 50th anniversary of the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, which financed the start of the Interstate Highway System. The convoy, which consisted of about 100 buses, trucks, military vehicles, private vehicles, and motorcycles, stopped at key points for meetings with governors and members of state legislatures.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: Myanmar
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Transportation, Road
label: See more items in
content: Transportation
label: See more items in
content: Road Transportation
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Alan E. Pisarski
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2011.0274.01
label: catalog number
content: 2011.0274.01
label: accession number
content: 2011.0274
objectType: label: Object Name
content: shirt
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: cotton (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: grey (overall color)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 36 in x 42 1/4 in x 1/4 in; 91.44 cm x 107.315 cm x .635 cm
label: Measurements
content: chest: 23 in; 58.42 cm
label: Measurements
content: shoulder to shoulder: 22 in; 55.88 cm