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Stephen Sprunk

On 29-Jan-12 14:02, wrote:
On Jan 29, 9:59 am, Bruce wrote:

Trivia question (no fair Googling the answer): What was the primary
justification/purpose of the Interstate Highway System?

Wasn't it originally a Department of Defence project, inspired by the
autobahn network in Germany?

It was never of Defense Dept project.

They didn't build it, but they designed it.

The seeds of the IHS were planted during WWI, when the Army found the
railroads insufficient for their needs and started planning on truck
convoys. A trial run in 1919 from Ft Meade, MD, to San Francisco, CA,
was led by one Lt. Dwight D. Eisenhower. The trip took two weeks, which
the Army considered a failure; Gen. Pershing submitted a map of proposed
national highways to Congress in 1922 to rectify the situation.
Pershing's map was the basis for the Interstate Highway System that
Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower eventually built.

Today, a similar convoy can move from coast to coast in three days.

Some of its backers used the autobhan network as an example to justify
the project. Early literature referred to it as a defense system. It
is said Eisenhower, who was president, was impressed with the
Autobahns.

Yes, and that would have been particularly glaring considering his
earlier experience in the US (above). The _construction standards_ of
the Interstates were taken from the Autobahns he witnessed in Germany,
but the plan to build them was already there. His other major
contribution was the funding--which was accomplished by redirecting
existing federal funding to US highways with lower construction standards.

S

--
Stephen Sprunk "God does not play dice." --Albert Einstein
CCIE #3723 "God is an inveterate gambler, and He throws the
K5SSS dice at every possible opportunity." --Stephen Hawking