Editor’s note: This story was originally published on July 12, 2024.
A look back at local, national and world events through Deseret News archives.
On July 12, 1954, President Dwight Eisenhower put forward a plan for an interstate highway system.
It took a few years to get going, but the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, or the Eisenhower Interstate System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the U.S.
The system now includes roads in Hawaii, Alaska and even Puerto Rico.
How the plan came to fruition could have its genesis in a trip Eisenhower took in 1919 to cross the country.
The trip took 62 days.
Plans to improve and connect interstate roads in the U.S. were developed and implemented all through the 20th century. Eisenhower’s administration began the process that became the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956.
His proposal, unveiled by Vice President Richard Nixon at the annual governors’ conference in New York, included a $50 billion price tag — back when $50 billion was a lot of money.
The administration said the program was needed to improve atomic defenses and prepare for a population of 200 million by 1970, Nixon shared.
The governors were not at all thrilled with the proposal, but Eisenhower invited the governors to “study his proposal and recommend the co-operative action they feel the federal and state governments should take,” according to the Deseret News article of the day
Not everyone embraced the new plan, in which the interstates were designed to be all freeways, with nationally unified standards for construction and signage. While some older freeways were adopted into the system, most of the routes were completely new. In some areas, that meant the main roads bypassing communities or destroying neighborhoods. It is reported that following the 1956 Highway Act, as many as a million Americans were displaced.
Interstate highways are funded by the government, but owned and operated by the states where they are built. As of 2020, about one quarter of all vehicle miles driven in the country used the Interstate Highway System, which had a total length of 48,756 miles.
Here are some stories from Deseret News archives about roads in America, some of the West’s favorite drives, and why not everyone loved the plan.
“How highways changed the West and the West changed highways”
“New Eisenhower Memorial celebrates his great legacy”
“Presidential boyhood homes: Eisenhower home oozes charm”
“Eisenhower’s enduring legacy”
“Utah to receive $27 million for highway system”
“Highway 89 from border to border is America’s most scenic route”
“`Lonliest road’: U.S. road lives up to its name”
“W.V. highway now a reality after traveling a rocky road”
“Highway 50: America’s lonliest road”
“Remembering the Lincoln Highway”
“Coloradans grudgingly drawn into rat race over Eisenhower Tunnel”