Interstate Systems

Prologue article about the start of the interstate highway system.

The beginnings of Interstate Highway System, as we know it today, can be traced to the summer of 1919, when LTC Dwight D. Eisenhower served as an observer to the first transcontinental convoy. Testing the endurance of vehicles and roads, the convoy took two months to travel from Washington DC to San Francisco.

Without a first class system of interstate highways, life in America would be far different - it would be more risky, less prosperous, and lacking in the efficiency and comfort that Americans now enjoy and take for granted. People would be crowded into more densely packed inner cities, intercity travel would occur less often and be more cumbersome; freight charges would be higher and, as a consequence, so would prices. Vacation travel would be more restricted.

Persons traveling through the United States today may find it difficult to imagine our country without the Eisenhower Interstate Highway System. It was not until June 29, 1956, when President Eisenhower signed the Federal Aid Highway Act, that interstate highways began to meet the challenge of the growing number of automobiles on the nation's highways.

Welcome to the Interstate-Guide, brought to you by AARoads! Included on this site are guides for every Interstate highway within the Eisenhower Interstate System. Individual pages include basic information and facts, mileage statistics, history and maps, planned improvements and photographs covering Interstate end points.

What could be more emblematic of America than the open road? From Jack Kerouac to Thelma and Louise, an unbroken expanse of land with a solitary road calls forth images of romantic waywardness and infinite grandeur.

Inspired by the network of high-speed roads he saw in Germany during World War II, Dwight D. Eisenhower championed the passing of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956.

Find out more about the history of The Interstate Highway System, including videos, interesting articles, pictures, historical features and more. Get all the facts on History.com.

Planning for what is now known as the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly called "The Interstate System," began in the late 1930's.

The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways (commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, Interstate Freeway System, Interstate System, or simply the Interstate) is a network of controlled-access highways that forms a part of the National Highway System of the United States.