Road Building in America

1. Interstate Act of 1956 and The Eighteen Wheeler
Henri Scordato
4/15/2020
I. Introduction
A. Good evening ProfessorDuvall and my fellow classmates.
B. Have you ever set out on the open road on the interstate to
other cities and states?
C. Have you ever wondered how we have this opportunity to travel
by automobile, trucks, and buses?
D. Before the rise of the passengerand cargo airplanes in the
1960’s and 1970’s,there was the rise of the United States
Interstate Highway System and the rise of the semi-truck which
shaped America as we know today.
II. Federal Aid Road Act of 1916 and the need for Interstate
Highways Increased
A. This opportunity began with FederalAid Road Act of 1916.
Many city miles of highways and rural roads were built under
this funding program through the 1930s.
B. As the need for major interstate highways increased,a master
plan for highway developmentwas created in 1939 under
PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt.
1. This led to passage of The Federal Highway Act of 1944 that
was sidelined due to lack of funding.
III. Dwight D. Eisenhower
A. During World War II, Army General in charge of the Allied
Forces, Dwight D. Eisenhower had been in Germany,
where he had been impressed by the network of high-
speed roads known as the Reichsautobahnen or
“autobahnen” as we know it here in the states.
B. The man who would become President after Roosevelt
and Truman, Eisenhower was determined to build the
highways that lawmakers had been talking about for
years.
IV. On June 29, 1956, President Dwight Eisenhower signed the
Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956.

2. A. The bill created a 41,000-mile “National System of
Interstate and Defense Highways” that would, according
to Eisenhower, eliminate unsafe roads, inefficient routes,
traffic jams and all of the other things that got in the way
of “speedy, safe transcontinental travel.”
B. As you may know, this was the beginning of the Cold War
between Communist Soviet Union and the western world.
1. Highway advocates argued, “in case of atomic attack
on our key cities, the road net [would] permit quick
evacuation of target areas.” For all of these reasons, the
1956 law declared that the construction of an elaborate
expressway system was “essential to the national
interest.”
C. It allocated $26 billion to pay for the construction. That
translates to 250 trillion dollars in today’s money. Under
the terms of the law, the federal government would pay 90
percent of the cost of expressway construction.
1. The money came from an increased gasoline tax–now
3 cents a gallon instead of 2–that went into a non-
divertible Highway Trust Fund.
D. The new interstate highways were controlled-access
expressways with overpasses and underpasses that were
at least four lanes wide.
V. Opposition to the Bill
A. When the Interstate Highway Act was first passed, most
Americans supported it. However, the unpleasant
consequences of all that roadbuilding began a sentiment
of opposition to the road building.
B. The damage the roads were inflicting on the city
neighborhoods in their path. They displaced people from
their homes, sliced communities in half and led to
abandonment and decay in city after city.
C. People began to fight back. The first victory for the anti-
road forces took place in San Francisco, where in 1959
the Board of Supervisors stopped the construction of the
double-decker Embarcadero Freeway along the
waterfront.
D. During the 1960s, activists in New York City, Baltimore,
Washington, D.C., New Orleans and other cities managed

3. to prevent roadbuilders from eviscerating their
neighborhoods.
E. (As a result, numerous urban interstates end abruptly;
activists called these the “roads to nowhere.”) This, as
you know, is an American term that has been woven into
the American fabric and has been used in recent
elections.
VI. Semi-Trucks and Trailers
A. Dieselengines became very popular due to their efficiencyand
power. The steam engine had an efficiencyof about 6%, and
the gasoline engine had an efficiencyof 12%.
B. The dieselengine that was designed by Mr. Diesel had an
increased efficiencyof 26%. It was a major breakthrough in the
field of engineering.
C. There were more than 70,000 working dieselengines around
the world by the end of 1912.
D. Dieselengines allowed industries to perform heavy duty tasks
much more economically.
VII. Transport and Modern Day Economy
A. Semi-trucks transport 700,000tons of goods eachyear in the
United States alone.
B. These semis are driven by 3.7 million drivers representing more
than 70% of all US freight delivery.
C. This is inherently one of the greatestaccomplishments of the
modern-day economy.
VIII. Conclusion
A. So, the next time you go out on a road trip to a concert, to a
collegiate game, or to visit grandma, remember,that greatness
does not come without oppositionand how this transcontinental
travel shaped us as a Nation.
Bibliography
1. https://www.history.com/topics/us-states/interstate-highway-
system
2. United States. Congress.Senate. Committee on Public Works.
Federal-aid highway act of 1956;
[Washington, U. S. Govt. Print. Off., 1956]