American Development and the Interstate Highway System
A look into the transformation of mobility in the United States due to the highway system in the United States in the 20th Century.
Brief History, Origins Of The Interstate
The Interstate System was first brought up in a Bureau of Public Roads report to Congress in 1939. It was authorized for designation by the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1944, with the initial designations in 1947. However many limitations, mostly financial, halted this progress. Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34 President of the United States, became interested and backed the enactment of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, which established the program for funding and building the Interstate Highway System we know today. With the intended use and purpose for providing commercial as well as military transport benefits for the continental and territories of the United States. A primary reason for the backing of President Eisenhower is the ability for civilians to evacuate cities and towns in case of a nuclear bomb attack. This was in the midst of the Cold War against Russia, terror and threats were at an all time high. The United States Department of Defense backed and supported the Interstate Highway System and Congress felt they needed to add the words “and Defense” to its official name in 1956, hence calling it the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways. The construction and full development of the Interstate Highway System was proclaimed complete in 1992 with some minor exceptions and cost in todays value of $521 billion USD.
Benefits of the Interstate
In 1945, the construction of the Interstate Highway System was considered one of the largest public works projects in the history of the world. While some of the roads and interstates were already developed, as the map below demonstrates, the majority were intentionally built later on to connect with one other and and by 2012 the United States had created a web of roads to create positive impacts to American citizens. One of the immediate positive impacts of the Interstate Highway System is that it created and influenced job creation, the building and the maintenance of the interstates created a wide range of jobs and opportunities. Because of the interstates both recreational and commercial travel became faster and easier. People were able to get onto the interstate for better and easier travel to work or long distances. But importantly commercial travel for large trucks and semis grew substantially with the introduction of new connected routes making a cheeper option for the transportation of raw and manufactured materials, today nearly half of miles traveled by truck are on the Interstate Highways. Another important benefit of the Interstate Highways was the boost for farmers and rural locations. The idea of living in a city was no longer an only option, because of the connectivity, the option of moving out of the city and still being able to travel independently has never been more real. It also gave the ability for people with jobs in the city to commute efficiently if they live in residential rural areas.
The Interstates Negative Impact and Effects On The Environment
The use of land was crucial in developing new interstates, tearing up land and cutting through mountains to develop new roads played an impact to the natural environment causing habitat altercations. The interstate also replaced the railroad as a primary mean of long distance ground transportation creating a small loss to industry as well as American pastime. The railroad wasn't the only pastime lost, many small towns centered around old road routes were left in the dust after construction of large interstate roads that were faster. These small towns and business felt a major effect economically due to the interstate because people now could bypass small towns looking for the fastest route of transportation. For many small cities and towns that where bypassed by the interstate, the impact was devastating.
With obvious environmental impacts, the American Highway System introduced more vehicles. The availability of rabid interstate travel and sense of independence only served to reinforce the American love of the automobile. This introduction of more vehicles created higher levels of emissions from cars and trucks, water and debris runoff, as well as the destruction and fragmentations of habitats from the paving of new and old roads. "In 1960, the population of the United States was 177 million persons and Americans drove 1.3 trillion miles annually. By 2000, those numbers increased to 281 million persons and 4.4 trillion miles, meaning miles per capita have more than doubled" (4). With these numbers it shows that the Interstate is a leading reason for an increase of driving habits in the United States. While other countries have invested in clean mass transit and high speed rail, the US has never been able to shake its love and dependency of the automobile.
Because of this increase of vehicles, a rise in CO2 levels, greenhouse gasses, demand in oil and lead based products, and runoff debris followed. Tire pollutions from runoff find their way into the ocean consistently as well as chemicals and salts from water runoff after rainstorms. Another environmental impact was that of the rising populations of communities that were connected with the interstate. "Evidence that shows patterns in population change can be linked to the completion of an Interstate highway...Counties with an interstate consistently grew more than those without one" (4). This rise in populations lead to development of land that once was untouched or left alone, which again creates natural habitat fragmentation and pollution. Wildlife took a major toll because of development. Many times animals cross the interstate and get stuck by moving vehicles. Enviromentalscience.org stated that animals that have wide migration patterns find themselves crossing interstate routes and coming in contact with cars creating high mortality rates.