USA Interstates
Sep 16, 2023 09:17:06 #
Some additional info.
Odd numbers in front of an interstate highway (I.e. 395) are Spur routes INTO a city.
Even numbers (I.e. 270) Bypasses AROUND a city.
Odd numbers in front of an interstate highway (I.e. 395) are Spur routes INTO a city.
Even numbers (I.e. 270) Bypasses AROUND a city.
Sep 16, 2023 09:17:29 #
wrangler5 wrote:
I seem to recall reading that the Constitutional excuse for making highways a Federal matter was National Defense - providing a network of roads adequate to move military men and equipment rapidly as needed. I think there is (or at least was) a requirement that there be 2-mile long straight flat sections of interstate at regular intervals that could be used as aircraft runways if needed.
That's pretty much correct. During WWII, Eisenhower was impressed with how fast the Germans could move men and equipment on the Autobahn. When he returned to America, he ran a test. He moved several battalions from the east coast to the west using the existing road system and it took something like two months to do it. So his answer was to build the interstate highway system to do the same as the Germans. He was also good friends with Ford who, I'm sure, heavily lobbied for the highway system knowing how it would increase the demand for cars.
Too bad. Little did Eisenhower know that in another 30 or 40 years we'd almost exclusively be moving men and equipment by air. And his alternative to the highway system would have been to spend the same money on the U.S. railroad system that today, is less dependable and slower than it was, 100 years ago.
Sep 16, 2023 09:40:13 #
Another part of the numbering system was the 3 digit meanings. A 3 digit number beginning with an even number meant an interstate portion going around a city. A 3 digit number beginning with an odd number meant a road going from the main interstate into a city. For example, I495 would be a branch of I95 but would go around a city. And I395 would go from I95 into a nearby city.
The thing that gets me these days is the changing of our established highways into interstates. I drive down the road and see signs that say "Future I74". Or "Future I73". Why do we have to turn our old established and much loved highways into interstates? What is wrong with highway US 52 staying that way? Got to be politics.
The thing that gets me these days is the changing of our established highways into interstates. I drive down the road and see signs that say "Future I74". Or "Future I73". Why do we have to turn our old established and much loved highways into interstates? What is wrong with highway US 52 staying that way? Got to be politics.
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Sep 16, 2023 09:48:21 #
Sep 16, 2023 12:40:24 #
It was that way before the interstate system in 1956 also, federal highways that averaged N & S were odd, and east and west were even.
Sep 16, 2023 13:17:15 #
bikinkawboy
Loc: north central Missouri
At least on the older interstates, there are regularly spaced straight sections that will allow an airplane in distress to land.
Sep 16, 2023 14:08:15 #
bobbyjohn wrote:
Do you know how the Interstates in the USA are numbered? Do you see a pattern here?
Looks like they left some unbuilt
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Sep 16, 2023 14:08:26 #
fourlocks wrote:
That's pretty much correct. During WWII, Eisenhow... (show quote)
Right idea, wrong year. It was in 1919, according to wikipedia, when he was a Lt Col.
Sep 16, 2023 15:27:31 #
wrangler5
Loc: Missouri
kvanhook wrote:
< snip > Why do we have to turn our old established and much loved highways into interstates? What is wrong with highway US 52 staying that way? Got to be politics.
I suspect it's because "Interstate" highways get Federal money for ongoing maintenance and improvement, where state and local roads don't. The "US Route XX" roads were just naming conventions agreed upon by a committee of state highway department representatives, so people could drive long distances without having to know the local name of each road they needed to take along the way. (It would be interesting to know if anybody ever compiled the local names of, for example, all the roads you had to take if you actually drove the 2000+ miles of "Route 66" from Chicago to LA before the signs went up in the 1920s - the original route, for example, used at least 7 different streets just to get through the City of St. Louis, then another road with 2 names to get through the politically-separate St. Louis County.)
Sep 16, 2023 16:23:33 #
TriX wrote:
Thank President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Early in his Army career, Ike was involved in a cross country Army motorcade. It may have been around 2019. The roads were abysmal and there were times, during rainstorms, when their trucks ran off the muddy roads and even tipped over. This experience morphed into his vision for our insterstate system. All in all, he has to rank as one of our greatest historical figures. He dealt with Nazis AND Commies pretty good, too.
Sep 16, 2023 16:35:34 #
therwol wrote:
This is from memory, so correct me if I'm wrong. ... (show quote)
I think the nuclear escape theory is an urban myth to help get the funding.
Ike had been impressed by the German autobahns and wanted to bring that technology to the States---according to my dad and every other vet who spent summer evenings on our back porch reminiscing about the war.
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Sep 16, 2023 16:42:14 #
SteveR wrote:
Early in his Army career, Ike was involved in a cross country Army motorcade. It may have been around 2019. The roads were abysmal and there were times, during rainstorms, when their trucks ran off the muddy roads and even tipped over. This experience morphed into his vision for our insterstate system. All in all, he has to rank as one of our greatest historical figures. He dealt with Nazis AND Commies pretty good, too.
You may have meant 1919. But, yes he was strongly interested in transportation issues and a strong advocate of improving them. You nailed it when you said he is one of our greatest historical figures.
Sep 16, 2023 17:41:20 #
fantom wrote:
You may have meant 1919. But, yes he was strongly interested in transportation issues and a strong advocate of improving them. You nailed it when you said he is one of our greatest historical figures.
The interesting thing about Ike is that he was a great learner. Patton was the hotshot in the Army during the 30's, and MacArther called Ike " a great clerk," yet look what happened when they needed somebody to plan D Day and the war in Europe, not just for us, but for all the allies.
Sep 16, 2023 18:00:32 #
Sep 16, 2023 19:26:23 #
TriX wrote:
Thank President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
He did make the suggestion to the country. It was based on the AutoBahn in Germany. Hitler had that built in Germany for troop and military vehicle transportation.
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