The Autobahn: Germany's "No-Speed Limit" Highway System Traffic School by Improv The Autobahn: Germany’s No-Speed Limit Highway System You have heard of Germany’s Autobahn but how much do you really know about it? You may have the impression that it is some sort of “wild-west” of the open road, where speed limits don’t exist and finely engineered German cars speed along at incredibly dangerous speeds. You may think it is a singular stretch of highway. Well, get ready to learn more about the German Autobahn, and get ready to share this with your friends. The Autobahn is not a stretch of highway but is actually the name of the German Federal Highway System. Much like the U.S. Interstate Highway System, it is a limited access network of roadways that vehicles can travel at higher speeds to get from one destination to another. It is generally two lanes separated by a safety berm. Far from a single stretch of roadway, the Autobahn is 7,982 miles of modern highway. In spite of Germany’s relatively small geographical size, the Autobahn is the fourth largest network of highways in the world. It follows only China, The United States, and Spain in total miles.

So what about that “no-speed limit” reputation? Well that is only partially correct. There are speed limits on the Autobahn in congested areas near cities and during inclement weather. There are also stretches in some open areas the speed limit will be 81 miles per hours based on the history of accidents. There are however, stretches of the roadway where there is indeed, no speed limit. German regulations however, mandate that a vehicle is always under control, leaving room for the “reasonable speed” limits that are enforced in other nations. In all, about one-half of the miles of the Autobahn have a posted speed limit. Another factor plays a role in speed on the Autobahn. That factor is based on sort of a “handshake agreement” between the nations’ automakers that autos will be produced with a maximum speed that is about 155 mph. There are top range models available in the country that can reach speeds of 190 mph or more, if you are willing to pay enough.

If you think defensive driving skills are important in the United States, where the absolute maximum speed is along a stretch of Texas highway at 85 miles per hour, imagine the skills needed to negotiate traffic approaching at 150 mph or more! © 2017 Interactive Education Concepts Inc. All rights reserved. ×Close Privacy Policy WE DO NOT SELL OUR CUSTOMER LISTS TO ANY THIRD PARTIES FOR MARKETING PURPOSES. Our Company respects the privacy of every individual who visits our website. This Privacy Policy outlines the information we will collect and how we will use that information. This Privacy Policy will also instruct you on what to do if you do not want your personal information collected when you visit our website. Personal Information Courts and governmental agencies may require the collection of certain personal information (name, driver's license number, etc.) and contact information (address, phone number, email address, etc.) for administrative purposes. All information which you submit as part of the registration process may be kept in our records for a period of time as required by law. You may review and request changes to this information during normal operating hours by calling our office at 1.800.660.8908 and providing proof of identification.

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The autobahns have been around for over eighty years and have allowed German industry to move products across the country and beyond with relative ease. History of the Bundesautobahn The popularity of the motor vehicle grew after the First World War and in Germany the first attempts at creating a national highway system was started as early as 1919. Despite the attempts by the government of the Weimar Republic to start a road building process, the construction was slow but by 1929 the first section of the autobahn system, then called the Reichsautobahn, was built between Dusseldorf and Opladen. Three years later the next section of the autobahn system was constructed between Cologne and Bonn. The fall of the Weimar Republic and the rise of the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) in December 1932, accelerated the road building program in Germany. The program became a major propaganda campaign for the NSDAP government and over 250,000 Germans were put to work building the new Reichsautobahn system. After three years the first section of the first limited-access, high-speed road network in the world was opened between Frankfurt and Darmstadt.

By September 1936, there was approximately 600 kilometers (373 miles) of completed autobahn. Construction continued as Germany annexed Austria in 1938 and invaded Poland in 1939. Autobahn construction also moved to Austria as the first autobahn outside of Germany was started in 1938 from Salzburg to Vienna. By the end of 1940 the total length of German autobahn was 3736 kilometers (2321 miles). Even after the start of the Second World War, the German autobahn program continued as it was seen to be of vital importance to the German military. However was not the case as it was easier to move freight and military supplies by rail. The autobahns were damaged by tanks and caterpillar tracks which decreased the importance of road transport. Towards the end of 1942, fuel shortages, damaged and unfinished roads left autobahn construction at a standstill. The autobahn may not have given Germany an advantage, as they had hoped, but it did allow the heavily motorized Allied armies to quickly pursue the retreating German forces.

The Allied troops had the added advantage of using the autobahns to keep supply vehicles close to the front-line troops and accelerate the end of the war. US military leaders, including future president Dwight Eisenhower, examined the autobahn system and found that it did not include populated areas. Eisenhower used this information when he launched the Interstate Highway System in 1956. As the post-war reconstruction program began in the new West Germany, repairs to the autobahns was quickly completed. In the soviet controlled East Germany the autobahn system was not repaired or maintained. Subsequently the roads were only used by military traffic or state farms. It was not until the 1970’s when the East German autobahns were repaired with funds from the West German government. Construction of new autobahn projects continued in West Germany until reunification of Germany in 1990. At that time the autobahn system in West Germany had reached 8,822 kilometers (5,482 miles). After the reunification, autobahns between the two nations were completed and within five years the autobahn system had reached 11,143 kilometers (6,924 miles).

After Unification The unified Germany benefited from the newly expanded Bundesautobahn. By 2010 the total system had 12,813 kilometers (7,962 miles) which is only a thirteen percent increase over the figures for 1995, but after unification the funds from the German Unity Transport Projects have been to upgrade neglected autobahns in the old East Germany, rather than constructing new roads. Safety on the Autobahn Safety on the BAB has been a concern for German citizens and in 1970 there were a record number of road accident fatalities, over 21,000. Since then there has been increase in safety features of the autobahns as well as more stringent enforcement of driving laws and increases in vehicle safety. By 2008 there were fewer than 4,500 road accident fatalities despite a three-fold increase in the number of cars on German roads. Despite this significant decrease, the government has indicated that they would consider imposing speed limits across all autobahns to further reduce road accident fatalities.

Autobahn - Popular Superhighway System in Germany | The Travel Guide Posted on September 10, 2010 in Cities and Attractions The Autobahn is one of the top German driving experiences. It is one of the most popular highway systems in the world. The German cars are already famous for its precise engineering and the craftsmanship and with Autobahn Superhighway system provides ultimate the driving experience altogether. The Germany’s Autobahn system is a widespread network of limited-access freeways which is widely used by many drivers for a speedy route to different cities. There is a myth that there are no speed limits posted on most of the German’s highways. However, in Autobahn at most of the places the recommended speed limit posted is of 130 km/hr (80 mph) but in some urban areas the limit is as low as 100 km/hr (62mph). Many people come here with a vision that they are going to drive in a 20 lane highway so they get little disappointment. Anyways, Autobahn offers the most inspiring driving experience. Amenities are abundant. The roads are designed extraordinarily strong and beautifully maintained.

The maintenance crew inspects this high tech road system from time to time with a road scanning gears. And if they find anything wrong they replace the entire section of the road. History It is considered as the world’s first motorway which was built in Berlin in between 1913 and 1921. In southwestern Berlin, a 19 km long AVUS also known as “Automobil-Verkehrs- und Übungsstraße” were built as an experimental highway which was also sometimes used for racing cars. The Autobahn was originated in this way. There were 2 eight meter lanes which were separated by a 9 meter wide median. After the World War II, the Autobahn network was expanding to 2,128 km. There were many construction projects that were added until recent years. In 2007, this network was expanded to 12,531 kms. And the Autobahn becomes the 3rd largest super highway system after USA and China. Amenities: There are numerous parking areas on the way which are fully equipped with toilet facilities. Several full service areas are there on the road where you will find gas filling stations, restaurants, and hotels.

There is an automated traffic and weather monitoring systems which provides the electronic signs for dynamic speed limits according to the traffic and even it will warn you of any congestion, road construction or accidents, fog, and so on. There are emergency telephones at every 2 km intervals. Above all there are pre-signed detour routes if there is any emergency closure. There are wildlife protection fencing, everywhere, and the crossover tunnels and the “green bridges” for wild animals. Where It Came From - Interstate 50th Anniversary - 50th Anniversary - Interstate System - Highway History - Federal Highway Administration Federal Highway Administration 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE Washington, DC 20590 Home / Resources / Highway History / Interstate System / 50th Anniversary / Where It Came From - Interstate 50th Anniversary Where It Came From - Interstate 50th Anniversary You ask, “Did we have roads before the Interstate System?” Don’t start with us! It’s annoying! Of course, we had roads. Cars and trucks, too. But before the Interstate System, the main roads from city-to-city were only two lanes wide, one in each direction, and the lanes sometimes weren’t as wide as they should have been.

Even though these were the best roads we had, they were not as good as this country needed. Safety was a big problem. For one thing, any business along the road could have a driveway from the road into the parking lot. That meant cars had to slow to turn into the driveway, or other cars had to slow when someone pulled out of the driveway onto the road. This created what is known as a “conflict” that not only slowed traffic but also created a safety hazard. Also, the roadside was dangerous because trees, utility poles, telephone poles, and other objects were right alongside the pavement. If a motorist lost control of his or her car, it would hit one of these objects and the results were often deadly. Passing slower traffic was another problem. To pass, a motorist had to shift into the next lane and pass the car before getting hit by any cars coming in the opposite direction. (To solve this problem, highway engineers began building three-lane roads, with a lane in the middle for passing. Sound like a good idea? Turned out, not. Cars passing in opposite directions had a bad habit of crashing into each other. It was as if the third lane was the “chicken” lane.

This “solution” didn’t last long.) But mainly, if this country was going to build a strong economy and a powerful military, it was going to need better roads. In the 1930s, before the United States was involved in World War II (1941 to 1945), other countries were building modern roads. Germany was a leader. Its “autobahn” highways were a good example of what the United States needed. They had four lanes—two in each direction. The roadside was clear of driveways, so motorists entered or left only at carefully designed spots where the highway was connected to local roads by ramps. The roadside also was clear of all those dangerous obstacles. Every engineer in the country who could afford it went to Germany to see these superhighways and came home thinking, “We can do better!” The government began studying how to get highways like that, only better, for the United States. For inspiration, highway engineers could take a look at the first section of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. It opened in October 1940, a year before the United States entered World War II. The turnpike, with its four lanes and no speed limits, was an eye opener.

It was called a “dream highway” and a “magic carpet ride” because it was so wonderful compared with the regular roads motorists had to drive on before getting to the turnpike. In December 1940, California opened the Arroyo Seco Parkway in Los Angeles, another freeway marvel that gave drivers an idea of the type of road this country needed. (For any Los Angelinos wondering where it is: The Arroyo Seco Parkway was renamed the Pasadena Freeway in 1954.) In 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a law that told the government’s road agency to select a “National System of Interstate Highways.” (Hey, that’s us! We were called the Public Roads Administration back then, but now we’re the Federal Highway Administration.) We asked the State highway agencies to help us decide which roads should be included in this new highway system. Also, we checked with the Department of Defense because we knew these roads would be a big help whenever the military has to move around the country. We announced the first routes in 1947. The idea was that the State highway agencies would build the Interstates and the Federal Government would help by paying 50 percent.

The Federal money would come from the Federal-aid highway program. Under this program, we had been providing “Federal-aid funds” to the State highway agencies since 1916 to pay half the cost of highway and bridge construction projects. It was a pretty good idea in theory. Congress thought these new roads were so important, the States would use the Federal-aid money on them. There was just one problem: without special Interstate money, many States weren’t all that eager to build their Interstate highways. Some States asked, “why should we build roads that will help drivers from other States?” Others thought they had more important projects to pay for. For example, one State said the Interstates would have to wait because it had lots of dirt roads to pave first. As a result, not much progress was made on the Interstate System. In January 1953, a President took office who understood that the country needed better highways, and couldn’t wait much longer for them. The President was Dwight D. Eisenhower and we’ll tell you why he understood about roads in another article. For now, trust us. He understood. He asked the Governors of the States to help him and called on the U.S.

Congress to pass a law that would get the Interstate System built. He asked for a law that would do two key things: Build the Interstate System in ten years. Not blow the Federal budget. Everyone liked the idea of building the Interstate System in ten years. The problem was not blowing the budget part. It was going to cost $27 billion, and that kind of money doesn’t grow on trees. Congress had to figure out how to raise $27 billion without wrecking the budget so that the government was spending more money than was coming in from taxes. (We interrupt this article to point out that the Interstate System ended up costing more than $27 billion, but, of course, no one knew it at the time. To understand how much $27 billion would be today, we will start by thinking about buying a car. Let’s say that a car cost $2,500 in 1956, while a similar car would cost $20,000 in 2006. Since you’re buying basically the same thing, that means $2,500 in 1956 is the same as $20,000 today.

Using that same idea, we can say that if the Interstate System was expected to cost $27 billion in 1956, that’s the same as if it were expected to cost $196 billion today. That will give you some idea of why Congress was having such a hard time finding the dough. If you understood this interruption, you may want to consider a career as an economist.) In 1955, Congress tried to find the money, but failed. Trucking organizations, gas companies, tire makers, auto builders, and tourist associations wanted the Interstate System but no one wanted to pay for it. They convinced Congress not to increase taxes on them to pay for the Interstate System, and that killed the deal. When Congress gave up and went home in July 1955 without passing the President’s Interstate program, these groups were really happy. Over the winter, then they realized what they had done. They had killed the goose that laid the golden eggs. (In case you never heard of this saying from one of Aesop’s fables, we’ll print a version we found on the Internet at the end of this article.) To save pennies, the auto people were costing themselves millions of dollars.

That winter, they worked with the roads subcommittees of Congress to find a way to pay for the Interstate System. They agreed that Congress would increase some of the taxes on the products motorists use, such as gasoline (the new tax was 3 cents a gallon), tires, and trucks. When Congress went back to work in 1956, President Eisenhower stressed the importance of getting these Interstate roads built. He told Congress: Legislation to provide a modern, interstate highway system is even more urgent this year than last, for 12 months have now passed in which we have fallen further behind in road construction needed for the personal safety, the general prosperity, the national security of the American people. President Dwight D. Eisenhower Congress was ready to go. With everyone in agreement on how to pay for the Interstate System, Congress passed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 in June. Here are a few of the things it did: It said building the Interstate System was “in the national interest.” This was a very important commitment. It changed the name of the network to the “National System of Interstate and Defense Highways” because it was important to our military goals.

Instead of paying 50 percent, the Federal Government agreed to pay 90 percent of the cost of building the Interstate System. This change showed how important the Interstate System is to the country. It authorized all the Federal money that would be needed to complete the Interstate System in 13 years. It set up a system for distributing the money so each State could build its Interstate highways while the other States were building their sections. It increased some taxes on highway products, such as gasoline, to pay for the Interstate System. All the taxes would counted toward a “Highway Trust Fund” in the treasury that would be dedicated to building the Interstate System and paying for other Federal-aid road and bridge projects. Since President Eisenhower had worked so hard to get this legislation through Congress, you probably think he had a big ceremony when he signed it and it became a law. You probably figure he had lots of important Members of Congress surrounding him as he said how important this law is and had a big smile on his face when he signed it and handed out pens to the members. No such luck. President Eisenhower was in the hospital after having emergency surgery for a stomach ailment that had bothered him for years.

He was probably wearing his pajamas at Walter Reed Army Medical Center when his staff plopped a bunch of bills in front of him on June 29, 1956. He signed them without ceremony, without a photo being taken, without a statement. One of them was the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 and he signed it on his last day in the hospital. He left the hospital the next day with his wife Mamie. They got into his limousine and were driven on the old two-lane highways to their farm near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, so he could continue to recover from his surgery. It wasn’t the glorious start that maybe President Eisenhower had pictured when he called on the Governors and the Congress to help him get the Interstate program started. But it would have to do. Since then, the length of the Interstate System has been increased, as have the cost and time needed to complete it. However, the clock started ticking on the Interstate Highway Program on June 29, 1956. --- That ends “Where It Came From,” but as promised, here’s the Aesop’s fable mentioned in this article.

We found it at ~dash/goldfowl.html#aesop The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs Aesop A man and his wife had the good fortune to possess a goose which laid a golden egg every day. Lucky though they were, they soon began to think they were not getting rich fast enough, and, imagining the bird must be made of gold inside, they decided to kill it in order to secure the whole store of precious metal at once. But when they cut it open they found it was just like any other goose. Thus, they neither got rich all at once, as they had hoped, nor enjoyed any longer the daily addition to their wealth. Much wants more and loses all. ________________________________________ Source: Æsop's Fables, a new translation by V. S. Vernon Jones (London: W. Heinemann, 1912), p. 2. Updated: 07/12/2016 Ike's Interstates at 50 | National Archives Ike's Interstates at 50 Summer 2006, Vol. 38, No.

2 Ike's Interstates at 50 Anniversary of the Highway System Recalls Eisenhower's Role as Catalyst By David A. Pfeiffer In the summer of 1919, just months after the end of World War I, an expedition of 81 Army vehicles—a truck convoy—set out from Washington, D.C., for a trip across the country to San Francisco. The convoy's purpose was to road-test various Army vehicles and to see how easy or how difficult it would be to move an entire army across the North American continent. The convoy assumed wartime conditions—damage or destruction to railroad facilities, bridges, tunnels, and the like—and imposed self-sufficiency on itself. Averaging about 6 miles an hour, or 58 miles a day, the trucks snaked their way from Washington, up to Pennsylvania and into Ohio, then due west across the agricultural Midwest, the Rockies, and into California. Generally, it followed the "Lincoln Highway," later known as U.S. 30, arriving in San Francisco 62 days and 3,251 miles later. The convoy involved 24 Army officers and 258 enlisted men.

One of those officers, a young lieutenant colonel, went along as a Tank Corps observer "partly for a lark and partly to learn," he wrote decades later. "We were not sure it could be accomplished at all. Nothing of the sort had ever been attempted." The convoy made a lasting impression on the young officer and stoked in him an interest in good roads that would last for decades. A generation later, during World War II, Dwight D. Eisenhower was still thinking about good roads as Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, where he oversaw the invasion of Western Europe and the defeat of the Nazi army, which was able to move quickly on the autobahns running throughout Germany. Later, as President of the United States, Eisenhower cited the 1919 convoy and his World War II experiences to persuade Congress to enact the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, creating what is now known as the interstate highway system, which is observing its 50th anniversary this year.

"The old convoy had started me thinking about good, two-lane highways," he wrote years later in his popular memoir, At Ease, "but Germany had made me see the wisdom of broader ribbons across the land." The interstate system now comprises 46,876 miles. The completion of the system, at a cost of $129 billion, was a cooperative federal-state undertaking. Each state transportation department managed its own program for location, design, right-of-way acquisition, and construction. The states also were responsible for the ownership and maintenance of the system, and in 1981, they began receiving federal funds for maintenance. Congress provided revenues from the federal gasoline tax to provide 90 percent of the cost of the construction of the interstates with the states picking up the remaining 10 percent. The technical standards for the highways were highly regulated—lanes had to be 12 feet wide and shoulders 10 feet wide, the bridges had to have 14 feet of clearance, grades had to be less than 30 percent, and the highway had to be designed for travel at 70 miles an hour. The most notable attribute of the system is the limited access concept.

The 42,000-mile system only has approximately 16,000 interchanges. The interstate system has had an enormous and lasting impact on the social and economic fabric of the nation, even as it has provided, as Eisenhower hoped, a system of highways that might be needed to move materiel and troops in time of war. Eisenhower Remembers the Rough Roads All this might never have happened if Lieutenant Colonel Eisenhower had not been involved with the 1919 transcontinental convoy, for the history of the interstate highway system certainly begins with this event. Eisenhower, along with the other observers, endured rough conditions on the trip. Half the distance, particularly west of the Mississippi River, was over dirt roads, wheel paths, desert sands and mountain trails. More than 230 recorded road accidents occurred, as the heavy trucks, driven mostly by inexperienced drivers, sank in quicksand or mud, ran off the road, or overturned. Other problems included inadequate bridges; limited sleep; lack of food, shelter, and bathing facilities; and even the lack of drinking water.

Enlarge During the 1919 transcontinental convoy, west of Grand Island, Nebraska, soldiers use a winch to pull a Class B truck out of a ditch. Lt. Col. P. V. Kieffer surveys the scene. (Eisenhower Library) In spite of all this, the results of the transcontinental exercise provided much valuable information about the operation and maintenance of a motor truck convoy as well as the feasibility of moving a large military force by road across the continent under simulated wartime conditions. Consequently, in the opinion of the ordnance observer, the convoy was a successful operation, not only militarily but also from a public relations point of view. "All along the route, great interest in the Good Roads Movement was aroused by the passage of the convoy," reported E. R. Jackson, the ordnance observer in his "Report on the First Transcontinental Motor Convoy." "However, the officers of the convoy were thoroughly convinced that all transcontinental highways should be constructed and maintained by the Federal Government" because some rural states could not afford the funds for road building. Eisenhower, in his report on the expedition, agreed with some of these points but had observations of his own.

"Extended trips by trucks through the middle western part of the United States are impracticable until the roads are improved," he said, "and then only a light truck should be used on long hauls." On the other hand, he observed that in the eastern part of the country, the roads were much better, allowing a light truck to travel 100 miles a day. But the convoy did more than just indicate what the Army needed to do to improve its mobility. Along the way, its arrival in cities and towns throughout the nation's Midwest and West was a major event. Some 3,250,000 people in 350 communities turned out to see the latest military equipment and listen to patriotic speeches. And the expedition stirred interest in road building. Federal Aid to Highways Proved a Divisive Issue The increased public interest in roads also raised the issue of federal aid to highways. This early in the debate, there were many critics of federal aid to highways. Thomas M.

McDonald, who became chief of the Bureau of Public Roads (BPR) in 1919, "appreciated the need for a connected system of interstate highways, but he did not believe that a separate national system under a federal commission was the way to achieve it," according to a history of America's highways, A History of the Federal-Aid Program. He also questioned the assumption that long-distance highways were necessary for national defense, saying that what was needed was a system of roads connecting military installations. Correspondingly, McDonald believed that the state highway departments should be strengthened. The Federal Highway Act of 1921 reflected this view, strengthening the state highway department's control of the highway system, particularly in maintenance. This act temporarily quieted demands for interstate highways under federal control. By the late 1930s, however, more Americans owned automobiles, and highways were getting more congested. Public sentiment for federal control of the construction of transcontinental superhighways was increasing. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, seeking to pull the nation out of the Great Depression, saw a network of toll superhighways as a way to provide new jobs for the unemployed.

At the time, he thought a system of three east-west and three north-south routes would be enough. At the same time, Congress also got into the act. The Federal Highway Act of 1938 directed the Bureau of Public Roads to study the feasibility of a six-route toll highway network. In its 1939 report, "Toll Roads and Free Roads," the bureau concluded that with some exceptions, the "amount of transcontinental traffic was insufficient to support a network of toll superhighways." The report recommended a 43,000-mile non-toll highway network in its "Master Plan for Free Highway Development." This proposal called for highways to follow existing roads whenever possible, have more than two lanes of traffic available if traffic required it, and be limited-access in high-traffic areas. In the large cities, the proposal allowed for above- or below-grade intersections and limited-access belt lines surrounding the central business district to permit traffic to bypass the inner city and to link intercity expressways.

Roosevelt enthusiastically approved the report and sent it to Congress on April 27, 1939, saying that instead of imposing user tolls, the cost of highways could be recovered by selling off federal land along the right-of-way to homebuilders and others. Critics in and out of Congress condemned this suggestion as a "socialistic scheme to transfer the cost of providing deluxe highways from those most benefited to the already heavily burdened landowner." Overall, however, reaction was favorable within the highway community. With the outbreak of World War II, the need for a national system of highway dropped in priority. However, toll roads were being built by the states. When the Pennsylvania Turnpike (now I-76 and I-70) opened to traffic on October 1, 1940, it was the prototype of the modern, high-speed interstate highway. In New York and Connecticut, the Hutchinson River Parkway and the Merritt Parkway, both toll roads, proved highly profitable. Other freeways and toll roads were incorporated into the interstate system at the time of its creation in 1956. As the war began to turn in the Allies' favor, attention refocused on the federal highway program.

The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1944, enacted after nine months of intense negotiations in Congress, was the largest highway bill in history, even though it did not meet the expectations of the administration and the states. Its net effect was to maintain the status quo. However, it did authorize a limited 40,000-mile National System of Interstate Highways, to be selected by the state highway departments, to connect the major metropolitan areas and to serve the national defense. But the act was passed without any provision for construction funds because Congress rejected the President's suggestion for raising money by selling off excess rights-of-way. The Public Roads Administration (PRA), the successor agency to the Bureau of Public Roads, was responsible for formulating an interstate highway system based on the states' recommendations. On August 2, 1947, after a year of negotiations, a 37,681-mile system, including urban thoroughfares and circumferentials, was approved. Enlarge A completed interstate (I-495) on Long Island, New York, in the late 1950s.

(30-N-60-101) Also, design standards for the interstate system were developed by the PRA, along with the American Association of State Highway Officials. These standards, approved August 1, 1945, "did not call for a uniform design for the entire system, but rather for uniformity where conditions such as traffic, population density, topography, and other factors were similar." Most highways would have at least four lanes with limited access, but lesser highways (two lanes with at-grade intersections) would be permitted if there were low traffic volumes. Construction of the system was slow. Many states did not wish to divert federal-aid funds from local needs, others complained that standards were too high, and still others determined that toll roads were needed because federal funding was so low. And in 1950, the Korean War distracted policymakers. Adequate federal funding for the interstate system was still not forthcoming. The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1952 authorized $25 million for the system on a 50-50 matching basis.

These were the first appropriated funds actually dedicated to the system, even though it was only a "token amount." Eisenhower Makes Interstates a Top Presidential Priority But 1952 also brought a presidential election, which swept into office the same man who had been appalled by the conditions of roads in 1919 and impressed by the German autobahns in 1944. One of Eisenhower's top priorities upon becoming President was to secure legislation for an interstate highway system. Since his first year in office, 1953, was dominated by the Korean war, he did not raise the highway issue until 1954. That year, Congress passed the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1954, which authorized $175 million for an interstate system, to be distributed on a 60-40 federal-state basis. Signing it, however, Eisenhower called it merely "one effective forward step." More, he believed, was needed. In July 1954, he brought up the idea again, and a conference of state governors at Lake George, New York, provided the setting.

Eisenhower was unable to attend because of his sister-in-law's death, so he sent Vice President Richard Nixon to deliver his message to the governors. The legislation he had signed a few months earlier, he told them, was a "good start," but a more comprehensive interstate network of highways was needed to reduce the number of highway deaths and injuries, cut down on delays because of detours and traffic jams, reduce the amount of highway-related litigation, and allow more efficient truck transportation of goods. And, he added, the system was needed to address "the appalling inadequacies to meet the demands of catastrophe or defense, should an atomic war come." Eisenhower also proposed a self-liquidating financing system that would avoid debt. The proposal excited the governors, and the President named a special panel to study the problem. Headed by retired Gen. Lucius D. Clay, it gave its report to the President early in 1955, and he forwarded it to Congress. The panel called for a Federal Highway Corporation that would issue bonds to build the system and for a gas tax to be used to retire the bonds over three decades.

The cost of building an interstate system of highways would be about $27 billion, it said, with $25 billion of it coming from the issuance of the bonds. Members of Congress, however, had their own ideas. Legislation calling for an interstate system with 90-percent federal funding was defeated even after intense efforts to strike a compromise that would have wide appeal. In his State of the Union speech in January 1956, Eisenhower tried again. And the Bureau of Public Roads issued a book, General Location of National System of Interstate Highways, that showed where interstates would be located in and around the nation's largest metropolitan areas. Opponents to the funding mechanism in 1955 were now agreeing to some increases in the gas tax. With Eisenhower standing firm for legislation to create the interstate system, Congress went back to work on it, and finally produced legislation that called for 90 percent federal funding, with money coming from a Highway Trust Fund that received the revenue from the federal gasoline tax. The final version also reflected a compromise on how the funds would be apportioned among the states, and it contained provisions on uniform design standards, inclusion of existing toll roads, and the wage rate to be paid on these federal construction projects.

It also permitted use of federal funds to purchase the rights-of-way for the roads and allowed two-lane segments, although later legislation required all parts of the system to be four-lane, limited-access highways. On June 26, 1956, both the Senate and the House gave final approval to the compromise version and sent it to Eisenhower, who was in Walter Reed Army Hospital with an intestinal ailment. There, he signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 privately, without ceremony, on June 29, 1956. In 1959 this portion of I-70 near Denver at the Floyd Hill interchange was complete except for a small amount of cleanup work. (30-N-60-18) Interstates Transform America, Spur Mobility, Increase Commerce Today's interstate highway system—first envisioned in the 1930s, then enacted two decades later after Eisenhower put his considerable prestige behind it, and now observing its 50th anniversary—has had a tremendous impact on the country.

While created in part to help defend the nation in the event of an emergency, the interstates, with limited access and many lanes, have also spurred and speeded the development of commerce throughout the country and abroad. Trucks move quickly from one region to another, transporting everything from durable goods and mail to fresh produce and the latest fashions. And they have increased the mobility of all Americans, allowing them to move out of the cities and establish homes in a growing suburbia even farther from their workplaces and to travel quickly from one region to another for vacation and business. But the interstates have also increased congestion, smog, and automobile dependency. The shift to the increasingly outward bound suburbs has caused a drop in population densities of urban areas, and the ease of long-distance travel on high-speed, limited-access highways has contributed to the decline of mass transit, such as rail and bus. During the decades of its construction, the interstate highway system was the largest public works project in American history—pumping billions into the nation's economy all over the country. Today, it still has an economic impact because of the continued maintenance and repairs needed for the roadways. In 1990, on the centennial of Eisenhower's birth, President George H.W.

Bush redesignated the interstate system as the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways. One of the system's longest roadways, Interstate 80, would be quite familiar to Eisenhower today. It starts just across the Hudson River from New York City, then goes through New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and into Ohio, where it then follows generally the route of the 1919 Army convoy to San Francisco that stoked an interest in roads for the young Army officer from Kansas. David A. Pfeiffer is an archivist with the Civilian Records Staff, Textual Archives Services Division, of the National Archives at College Park. He specializes in transportation records and has published articles and given numerous presentations concerning railroad records in the National Archives. He is the author of Records Relating to North American Railroads, Reference Information Paper #91 and of the award-winning article "Bridging the Mississippi," in the Summer 2004 Prologue. Note on Sources Secondary sources used in this article concerning President Eisenhower and the 1919 convoy and his World War II experiences with the German autobahns include Dwight D.

Eisenhower, At Ease: Stories I Tell to Friends (New York: Doubleday, 1967) and Stephen E. Ambrose, Eisenhower, 2 volumes (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1984). Sources consulted concerning the history of the interstate highway system include Mark H. Rose, Interstate: Express Highway Politics, 1939–1989 (Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press, 1979); Dan McNichol, The Roads that Built America (New York: Barnes and Noble, 2003); America's Highways, 1776–1976: A History of the Federal-Aid Program (Washington, DC, Federal Highway Administration, 1976); and Richard F. Weingroff, "Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956: Creating the Interstate System." There are two main sites on the Internet for information on the interstate highway system. One is the Federal Highway Administration 50th anniversary site . Another is the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library . These sites have several articles and images of records relating to the history of the Interstate Highway System.

Primary sources used in this article for information on the 1919 convoy include "The Report on First Transcontinental Motor Convoy" by E. R. Jackson, 1st Lieutenant, Ordnance Department, in the Manufacturing, Tank, Service Tractor, and Trailer Division (OMT), Decimal Correspondence Files, 1919–1920 (Records of the Office of the Chief of Ordnance, Record Group [RG] 156). This report includes reports on the vehicles on the convoy, a daily log of the trip, and copies of the telegrams sent by the ordnance observer. The Eisenhower report on the convoy as an observer for the Tank Corps is located on the Eisenhower Library web site . The textual, cartographic, and photographic records of the Bureau of Public Roads (RG 30) are located in the National Archives at College Park. Textual records used as background for this article include correspondence concerning the construction of individual interstate highways in the General Correspondence, 1912–1965.

Also, the Reports About the Interstate Highway System include the Report to the President on Interregional Highways, 1941, and other reports on interregional highways such as the analysis of physical conditions and traffic density, recommended design standards, a proposal on financing and administrative matters, and a study on national multilane highways. In addition, the Papers and Speeches of Harold Hilts (deputy commissioner of the Public Roads Administration) include a speech titled "Cooperation in Essential in Building a National System of Interregional Highways." The photographic records include the prints of the Bureau of Public Roads (RG 30), Highway Transport, 1960–1963, Interstate Highways (boxes 363–367). The Cartographic and Architectural Reference Staff has custody of the famous Roosevelt map with FDR's blue pencil annotation of a U.S. highway map showing the proposed lines of a future interstate highway system. Also, in RG 30, Series 5, Maps of Highway Systems (Interstate and Defense Highways) contains several BPR maps on the National System of Interstate Highways, dated 1947.

The Center for Legislative Archives of the National Archives has custody of the records of the various committees of the House of Representatives and the Senate relating to the legislative history of the 1956 act. Articles published in Prologue do not necessarily represent the views of NARA or of any other agency of the United States Government. interstate CURTISS-WRIGHT GEM | PRINCETON GEM | M-29 WEASEL | ARCTIC | ANTARCTIC THE DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER INTERSTATE HIGHWAY SYSTEM The beginnings of Interstate Highway System, as we know it today, can be traced to the summer of 1919, when LTC Dwight D. Eisenhower served as an observer to the first transcontinental convoy. Testing the endurance of vehicles and roads, the convoy took two months to travel from Washington DC to San Francisco. During Eisenhower's service in Europe during World War II, he witnessed the incredible efficiency of the German autobahns. When Eisenhower became president in 1953, one of his top priorities was an Interstate highway system. In 1956, he signed the Federal Aid Highway Act that allocated $25 billion to the project.

The Interstate Project The Interstate project was to be completed by 1975 with a total of over 41,000 miles of interstate highways. The standards for the project included: * Two lanes minimum in each direction * Lanes that were 12 feet in width * Right shoulder to be 10-foot wide and paved * Design that allowed speeds of 50-70 miles per hour * No intersections, traffic signals or rail crossings An estimated 55,000 bridges were built to accommodate the requirement for uninterrupted traffic flow. It was ï¿½the greatest public works program in the history of the world.ï¿½ THE AASHO ROAD TEST The American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO) was responsible for all testing. The official test began in November 1958 and was completed in December 1960. After the ribbon-cutting, the first trucks roll over Loop 6. They tested asphalt and Portland cement pavement on all base soil types, construction techniques, and other roadway standards. They also tested axle loads and gross vehicle loads on all pavement types and bridges. Special military vehicles and highway construction equipment were also included in the test.

Over the 25-month period, Transportation Corps trucks and crews drove 25-35 mph over 17 million miles on the six test loops. The importance of the Interstate for military transport was critical. The Department of Defense closely monitored all phases of the testing. During World War I, roads throughout the country were nearly destroyed by the weight of military trucks. During World War II, 13% of the defense plants received all their supplies by truck, and almost all other plants shipped more than half of their products by vehicle. Also discovered was a bewildering array of standards - some states allowed trucks up to 36,000 pounds, while others restricted anything over 7,000 pounds. They began with 81 vehicles, increasing as the test evolved. The average day was 18 hours, including 14 hours driving and 4 hours maintenance and driver changes. Vehicle with extra heavy load during a test-to-failure with increasing loads. Interstate Highway System Construction began in 1956 and ended in 1980, with additions and improvements still on-going.

Today, the interstate spans 46,380 miles of the United States, and costs roughly $58.5 billion. Construction began in 1956 on Interstate I-70 in Missouri and Kansas. In August 1957, AASHO announced the numbering scheme for the Interstate. North and South highways were given odd numbers, beginning in the west. East and West highways were given even numbers, beginning in the south. Connecting routes around cities were assigned three-digit numbers. The familiar red, white and blue interstate shield was a combination of designs submitted by Missouri and Texas. Interesting Interstates Colorado's I-70 through Glenwood Canyon includes over 40 bridges, viaducts, and several roadways on top of one another to preserve space in this beautiful canyon. It also includes a tunnel passing through the continental divide. Florida's I-75, nicknamed Alligator Alley, includes underpasses for panthers and other wildlife to pass freely underneath to avoid disrupting their habitat. Seattle's I-90 required lower areas for bridges and land coverings, and the landscape called for an extremely unique floating bridge. The initial purpose of the Interstate was to allow for mass evacuation of cities during a nuclear attack.

It was also designed so that one mile in five was straight, useable as an airstrip in times of war or other emergencies. A complicated interchange in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania One of the primary reasons for building the Interstates was national security. The military benefits are as initially intended ï¿½ to protect and defend our country. ï¿½Much of the success of Operation Desert Storm was due to our logistical ability to rapidly move troops to theater. The US highway system supported the mobilization of troops and moved equipment and forces to US embarkation ports ï¿½ the was KEY to successful deployment.ï¿½ Lt Gen Kenneth Wykle

Question: What is the name of Germany's highway system?
Answer: The Autobahn