Highways and By-the-ways

In the 1950’s, President Eisenhower championed a national interstate highway system, which was approved in 1956, with construction continuing into the 1980’s. This was obviously a grand ambition, leading to transportation infrastructure that positively affects most Americans on a daily basis. The Interstate system is the heart of our commercial operations. Plus, it’s the only place you can find a Cracker Barrel.

Curiously, Eisenhower conceived the system as a means of national defense, with the extremely wide roads and no intersections to allow the military to quickly transport men and armor in a time of war or crisis, patterned after the Autobahn that he had seen in Germany. In fact, the official name of the funding bill is “The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways.”

Since World War II we have never been invaded, and the defense benefits of the interstate system have been negligible, or at best a deterrent. And now the nature of war has changed and we no longer associate freeways with the military. Sure, Ike was off a bit in his reasoning. We almost always are when we project the future. But the positive impact of the Interstate system has been enormous. It was a big idea on a grand scale, taking 35 years and over $400 billion in today’s dollars to complete.

And the lesson is: It usually pays to be bold.

Which reminds me that a few months ago we had a full car and all starting talking about standards and conventions of the Interstate. Most of us knew some of the general rules listed below, but hardly anyone knew all of them:
• North-south freeways are odd numbers, while east-west are even numbers.
• Nationally, freeways are in numerical order, going west to east and south to north.
• Belt routes go around cities, using a three-digit number that generally includes an even single digit followed by the main interstate number (i.e. I-215 goes around I-15). There are no duplicate belt loop numbers in any state.
• Spurs do not reconnect to the Interstate, but are numbered like belt loops except with an odd first digit.
• Exits numbers are coordinated with mile markers almost everywhere. On the exit signs, an exit number on the right indicates the exit will be to the right, and vice versa on the left.

Maybe it’s just me, but sometimes I find even common things most interesting.