Thursday, November 14, 2019

Founding Fathers of the Freeways would be Flabbergasted!



Those who initially designed and built the nation’s freeway and interstate systems – the interstate system also known as the Eisenhower Interstate Highway System, would surely be appalled and ashamed at the state of our modern Interstate Highway System.  This statement is true because of the decrepit state of many of the roads and bridges as well as the clearly outdated and under-designed nature of the modern interstate roadway system as a whole.  

Undoubtedly, those Founding Fathers of the freeways and highways gave too much credit to the nation’s leadership which followed – in that those early builders of the freeways and highways likely believed that any follow-on leadership would maintain, rebuild, and expand the roadway systems as the growing American society required.  

Of course, to date, the maintaining of the capacity of the roadways never kept pace with the requirements of the nation’s society - apparently as a result of the inept and apathetic nature of the typical and subsequent politicians which followed the initial construction of that Interstate roadway system.  Much of the builders’ forward-thinking intent of the Interstate System is evident to this day with some of the overpass designs as well as the expanses of right of ways set aside for any such roadway upgrades, upgrades which overall have not manifested in the sixty-plus years of the Interstate Highway System.

Adam Trotter (November 2019)

See:
History of the Interstate Highway System
 
Interstate Highway System


See also:
Better Designed Roadways Will Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Vehicles.
https://engineeringandcommerce.blogspot.com/2017/06/better-designed-roadways-will-reduce.html