Highways Highways
Early in the 20th century, most of the streets and roads in the U.S. were made of din, brick, and cedar wood blocks. Built for horse, carriage, and fool traffic, they were usually poorly cared for and too narrow to accommodate automobiles.
With the increase in auto production, private turnpike companies under local authorities began to spring up, and by 1921 there were 3S7.000 miles of paved roads. Many were built using specifications of 19th century Scottish engineers Thomas Tel ford and John Macadam (for whom the macadam surface is named), whose Patek Philippe Replica specifications stressed the importance of adequate drainage. Beyond that, there were no national standards for size, weight restrictions, or commercial signs. During World War I, roads throughout the country were nearly destroyed by the weight of trucks. When (general Eisenhower returned from Germany in 1919. after serving in the U.S. army’s first transcontinental motor convoy, he noted: “The old convoy had started me thinking about good, two lane highways, but Germany’s Autobahn or motorway had made me see the wisdom of broader ribbons across the land.”
It would take another war before the federal government would act on a national highway system. During World War II, a tremendous increase in trucks and new roads were required. The war demonstrated how critical highways were to the defense effort. Thirteen per cent of defense plants received all their, supplies by truck, and almost all other plants shipped more than half of their products by vehicle. The war also revealed that local control of highways had led to a confusing variety of design standards. Even federal and state highways did not follow basic standards. Some slates allowed trucks up to 36.000 pounds, while others restricted anything over 7.000 pounds.
A government study recommended a national highway system of 33,920 miles, and congress soon passed the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1944, which called for strict, centrally controlled design criteria.
The interstate highway system was finally launched in 1956 and has been hailed as one of the greatest public works projects of the century. Hublot Replica To build its 44,000 — mile web of highways, bridge, and tunnels, hundreds of unique engineering designs and solutions had to be worked out. Consider the many geographic features of the country mountains, steep grades, wetlands, rivers, deserts and plains. Variables included the slope of the land, the ability of the pavement to support the load, the intensity of road use, and the nature of the underlying soil. Urban areas were another problem. Innovative designs of roadways, tunnels, bridges, overpasses, and interchanges that could run through or bypass urban areas soon began to weave their way across the country, forever altering the face of America.
Today, the interstate system links every major city in the U.S, and the U.S. with Canada and Mexico. Built with safety in mind, the highways have wide lanes and shoulders, dividing medians, or harriers, long entry and exit lanes, curves engineered for safe turns, and limited access. The death rate on highways is half that of all other U.S. roads (0.86 deaths per 100 million passenger miles compared to 1.99 deaths per 100 million on all other roads).
By opening the North American continent, highways have enabled consumer goods and services to reach people in remote and rural areas of the country, spurred the growth of suburbs, and provided people with greater opinions in term of jobs, access to cultural programs, health care, and other benefits. Above all, the interstate system provides individuals with what they cherish most: personal freedom of mobility.
The interstate system has been an essential element of the nation’ s economic growth in terms of shipping and job creation: more than 75 percent of the nation’ s freight deliveries arrive by truck: and most products that arrive by rail or Hublot Big Bang Replica air use interstates for the last leg of the journey by vehicle. Not only has the highway system affected the American economy by providing shipping routes, it has led to the growth of spin — off industries like service stations, motels, restaurants, and shopping centers. It has allowed the relocation of manufacturing plants and other industries from urban areas to rural.