1950s INTERSTATE HIGHWAY PROMO FILM BY AMERICAN ROAD BUILDINGS ASSOCIATION 78014 MD
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Produced in 1957 by the American Road Builders Association, “We’ll Take the High Road” is presented as a public service announcement, the films touts the ever-increasing number of cars on the nation’s roads and how builders are moving to meet an increasing need for more roads and highways. Because the existing roads were not originally engineered for safety or the number of cars using them, President Dwight D. Eisenhower (shown at mark 02:05) signed the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act in June 1956, when signed the bill into law. It authorized $25 billion for the construction of 41,000 miles of an Interstate Highway System and was the largest public works project in American history at the time. As a result, the Interstate Highway System was soon developed and Federal Highway Administrator Bertrum D. Tallamy explains, starting at mark 02:53, how the proposed system will work. (Began in 1956, the system had a total length of 47,856 miles as of 2013).
Presented as part of a “town meeting” skit beginning at mark 05:15, the film launches into a detailed explanation of what would officially be known as the “Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways.” He notes that “it will be possible to drive from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and from Canada to Mexico on safe, multi-lane, divided highways without a single stoplight or stop sign” and is designed “for the traffic of the future.” Although residents in some smaller town feared that highways would divert traffic from their roads and cause them to become ghost towns, the narrator says those are “dark suspicions.” At mark 10:30, the film delves into the large amount of planning and engineering involved in mapping out the highway system, with “electronic brains” doing much of the work. Revisiting the concern that a highway system would take business away from “mom and pop establishments,” the film claims near mark 16:08 that a highway system would result in an increase in business and property value. “Travelers can get into town, move around, find a place to park, and buy what they want,” we are told. The system would also improve smaller, local, “farm-to-market” roads, and provide for “expert landscaping” along highways to keep the journey one that is aesthetically pleasing.
Following further discussion of design plans and construction details, Although some businesses and residences would have to be acquired to construct the highway system, the audience is told at mark 28:50 that “anyone with any sense at all knows that this system of roads will be a good thing for his country and for all of us. It’s something we really need. We’ve got to have it if we’re going to move ahead in this country the way we always have.”
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My dad helped build the interstate system between Memphis and Knoxville. I remember as a kid how he’d drive us on the “officially closed” parts (pre-asphalting) on Sunday afternoons. He belonged to the Tennessee Roadbuilders Association. There was a bid-rigging scandal in the 80’s, and we were so proud that he was one of the few that was uninvolved. I think of him every time I drive that leg of the interstate and it brings back fond memories.
Interstate 40
1867Phoenix • Yep!
Lovely story, it makes all Americans proud to hear about the real effort to build up this nation
My dad and his dad helped too. They threw their cigarette butts out on them!
My great grandfathers grandmother was one of the founders on Knoxville
You gotta admit this all worked out pretty well. Now every place in the USA looks exactly like every other place.
That's regulatory capture that allowed monopolies and conglomerates. If you make a better search engine they buy it and kill it for control. That's not normal
Thanks to the many highways in America we can enjoy more high speed chases on youtube
Put yourself back in that time. Can you imagine how exciting that must have been? Those roads must have appeared space-age.
it must have felt like a change of era
and now feels they should have built high speed trains too
I grew up in mostly small towns just outside of Los Angeles proper during the 1950s, watching as the "freeway" system came to dominate our lives not only in how one traveled, but how the increased car presence allowed by the new interstate highway system of 1956 created "smog", traffic congestion right on the freeway itself, with bumper-to-bumper traffic shortly becoming a nerve wracking and frustrating way of life. Small communities all over Southern California, with their once close-knit small neighborhoods where people knew the neighborhood grocer, baker, laundry owner, butcher shop, restaurants and cafes, shoe stores, car dealers, garages, skating rink, all owned by local folks etc., were shortly put in danger of losing customers because the freeway traveler didn't go to the old neighborhood merchants anymore. The shiny new plastic signed corporate businesses built close to the new freeway system and lured the customers away from traveling what would become "surface" streets. Simultaneous to the freeway was the rise of the "housing tract" as people were lured away from the old neighborhoods, now declining because of lack of local business being able to survive comfortably, and now great numbers of the old residents moved to the newly-built "suburbs"--located closer to the freeway but far from anything familiar or established. Families seemed to lose their closeness; people in suburban lifestyles didn't even know their neighbors anymore. This increased economic and social strain created rising rates of crime that became a major social tragedy by the mid-1960s and only increases to this day. To make a long story short, freeways were the ultimate bane of American life because they separated people from a slower paced life, from long-established ways of living in familiar places, and the quality of life would become shoddy and cheap, including how people related to one another. The idea of one's mother living in the same home with the younger generations, as seen in this film, would also drastically change. It would only be a matter of a decade before "grandma" would be visited by the family she was once proudly an integral part of as they now find her in the nursing home she'll end up in--but, not to worry, it's only a short freeway trip away.
Sadly the right wing politicized the issue, claiming the roads were necessary to prevent soviet aggression. Not supporting them meant you supported communism. Can you imagine? If you objected to the government spending trillions on roads you would have been called a commie. Talk about scum. The same bullshit goes on today with the Canadian oil company’s pipeline across America. How do you make an entire political party help you get your oil to the international markets where you can make a hell of a lot more money? No matter that the oil is coming from Canada and will no longer be available in the Rocky Mountain West. Where gas prices are lowest. Involve Obama, involve native Americans and make the pipeline a right vs left fight. Why support the pipeline? Because Obama and the natives are against it. No consideration given for how the pipeline would benefit anyone other than the Canadian oil company. Certainly not consumers.
@@IcelanderUSer Car dependent Suburbia was not created in the 1950s America... Detroit (the once proud Motor City) was the first one to begin experimenting with the automobile and car centric urban design. The left wing usually says, "More government intervention was needed to save Detroit." The right wingers often say, "We needed more tariffs to protect jobs in Detroit."
Here is the reality:
- Detroit is the first city to bulldoze public buildings and parks to make way for many parking lots.
- Detroit is the first city to create car centric infrastructure in their neighborhoods.
- Detroit came up with the idea of widening 2 lane local streets, into 6 lane highways for faster moving car traffic.
- The Motor City also came up with the idea of rapid sprawl and separation, using the automobile as a tool to fuel this growth. Growth was seen as something good, since Detroit faired well during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
***When you sprawl everything out; you lower your tax revenue base and increase the amount of liabilities that you are obligated to service (water pipes, wires, sewage, wastewater treatment plants, water towers, road maintenance etc.)
After ww2, those in key positions of power wanted America economy to keep on going, and not go into a slump after industrial war production was put off. Policy makers and planners thought that big investment in this (Detroit inspired) car centric suburban growth, would save America from another Great Depression. America poured in generations of incrementally built up community wealth, into this experiment, that has never been done before in human history. This experiment has been a disaster and in the process, has destroyed the livelihood of so many people!
"American" Urban Planning is like how the Devil operates. Through distortion, dissolution, and eventually total destruction of anything beautiful.
@@MikeDrop136 America has the wrong professionals in the wrong jobs. Technical professionals are meant for support, while Non-technical professionals (i.e.: craftsmen) are meant for leadership roles.
Civil engineers are not capable of grasping urban complexity, psychology of people or community beauty. The best cities found all over Europe/Asia were ALL designed by local artists, tradesmen, craftsmen, traditional architects, and non-technical urban planners. Civil engineers are only needed for design of water/sewage systems and logistical transit.
It is time for America to adapt some form of Ethical Socialism.
@@MikeDrop136 I’ve taken trips all over the world without a car or without a freeway. I also don’t use freeways in the US. You say I need to think. I suggest you need to imagine that there are worlds, even in the US, where the freeway didn’t win. I’ve lived in NYC for most of my life and have never even purchased a car. I’ve gone to Europe many times and have never needed a car. You can actually live your life without one. Or without a freeway. Think man.
@@MikeDrop136 What constitutional guaranteed freedoms do liberals curse that right wingnuts claim to have died for? You’re so caught up in imagining a fight of good vs evil, where you think you’re the good guy, that you’re incapable of imagining the world as it really is.
Regardless, explain to me where in your beloved constitution does it protect the right to carry and own organ liquifying automatic weapons? Where does the constitution say a women can’t decide when she has a baby? The constitution clearly separated church and state. Per capita gdp is much higher in blue states than any red state. In Texas, per capita gdp is 2/3s that of NY, gdp is nearly the same even though Texas has 10 million more people. Of those who actually contribute to Texas gdp, they mostly live in blue cities and counties. The next time you drive down your beloved freeway I suggest you remember who paid for that road. A hard working blue state American. I think blue Americans need to stop funding red states 100%. You can pay for your own roads.
Granny is now part of the pavement of the exit from I-70 for Hilldale.
Possibly... but she had gumption... and she was right. The government does not have the right to take homes and dispossess people... not for something as stupid as a road.
She's now a dip in the road instead of the living room.
hahahahaha touche!!
@@56squadron Ahh, but we all must bow down and worship the almighty internal combustion engine. Hallowed be thy oil. 🙄
That wasn't a tree she was trying to plant, that was her grave she was told to dig by the Highway Commissioner!
The beginning of the end for the prospects of a modern and fast American rapid passenger railway service. The beginning of the end for vibrant inner urban centers for many cities and the nail in the coffin for street car trolley systems. From then on, America's dependence on cars (and thus the need to carry 3000 lbs of metal and plastic with you everywhere you go) and America's dependence on the middle-east would be enshrined in the concrete and bitumen of its highways.
@gordon mathew Sure it did. But with fastrail electric intercity expression trains running to central stations, tramcars and even subways stood a chance of being revived to serve them. As soon as the bypasses and giant turnpikes laid waste to acres of city space, the population density took a hit, infrastructure was torn down and it was a perfect excuse to get 'those old trolleys out of the way'.
TommyTwobats Yep. People love to complain about President Wilson but Ike committed the Feds to trillions and trillions, forever.
Wilson was the president who created federal personal income tax. (1913). FDR was the president who dramatically increased the size and scope of government. Eisenhower signed the 1956 federal aid highway act. He was fairly foggy on its scope, and the details. LBJ further dramatically increased the size and scope of government. More lane miles were constructed during his term (‘63-‘’69) although he also was likely detached from the details of Interstate construction. Looking back, would have accelerated, and built the urban segments first, to get them done first to avoid later controversies.
Good! Don’t want to share my commute with riffraff anyway. One of the best anti-collectivism inventions ever. I don’t want a vibrant urban center, I want my quiet private suburb.
Where do automobiles come from? Well, when a daddy automobile and a mommy automobile love each other very much....
Just a cheap piece of tail...
...pipe.
DETROIT -Mr. Miyagi
And they lay very close together
Oh, you mean they have to love each other before, uh, well, you know what I mean.
A Buick f*cked a Cadillac and thus Pontiac was born.
26:50 My aunt and uncle got one of these letters in the late 50's. a freeway overpass and access ramps now sits where their ranch house used to be.
Ima Paine-diaz I think it’s sad they took so many farms and respective land
My dad got one too, the toll booth is where his cardboard box used to be!
A lot of beautiful cars. Those two guys are hitting on sally.
Something going on there
Sally was the middle to their Eiffel Tower, if you know what I mean...
Can you blame them?
it gives me urges to blow them up, must be a nice view
I thought exactly the same thing.
Very interesting that at least 3 of the actors were also supporting actors on the Andy Griffith Show of the 1960's
I didn't notice who was on the left, of the podium; before he stood up, though, I said, to myself, "isn't that Olan Soule, on the right?" Right!
18:33 I'm pretty sure "Ole Gundersen" and his buddy lent their Scandinavian voices to a Disney film about Paul Bunyun that came out around the same time.
Yes, Soule is "Mr. Norton".
@Brian Salomon Jack Webb = James webb different time. Lost Angels= Los Angle Less.
I miss the maturity of these 1950s public service films.
Agreed. Now everything is dumbed down because the average American today has the attention span of a gold fish.
@ARE YOU FEELING LUCKY PUNK me? How do you figure?
It’s mature because the man’s voice sounds assertive? If people felt these videos represented a true or honest reality they would be creating them on TH-cam. Truth is people today aren’t fooled by tone or assertion level. Content of words spoken determines whether something is credible or mature.
EricLehner public propaganda films ;)
@@IcelanderUSer I bet you bitch about traffic too huh?
Most of our lifetimes interstates has always been around but to see it in its infancy is something you never think of! It's very cool for a history nerd like me
When I-29 came though South Dakota back in the 50’s or 60’s. It HELPED my hometown. Major traffic used to go though 3rd St (a main drag prior to the interstate). Also it was. US Hwy 77. My hometown was improved by the interstate system, not ruined by it.
I live in Willamstown.Grant County.Kentucky And The Interstate (I-75) Helped Dry Ridge.
When I-20 came through my town (long before my time) they bypassed it by a few miles and then put in 4-lane hwys to connect it. It made the city kind of stagnant but turns out it was a good thing because now the city is known for its 19th and early 20th century architecture. It had a comeback largely due to its architecture and arts, now downtown is beautiful. Im glad it went around and not through, no good would have come from that.
which town? :-)
Yep, and yet some places were told they would become ghost towns unless they agreed to a terrible operation. Many became ghost towns anyhow and thus they destroyed their cities buildings, roads and neighborhoods. Blocks leveled to create parking. American cities barely survived the damage done by the interstate highway scheme. Many are still in terrible shape. Who wants to travel to a city that destroyed itself for a highway? Why didn’t the government combine commuter rail plans with more established cities? Keeping passenger rail systems intact and even using some of the recently abandoned railroad rows.
In Philadelphia, they ran I-95 right along the river cutting off the riverfront from the rest of the city.
@@IcelanderUSer Why do you people think that mass transit is the cure for everything?
Greets from a former resident of Decatur and Conyers.
It's another example of American ingenuity and engineering and the fact we can do just about anything, even back in the 50s. My only complaint about the intercontinental highway system was the negative impact it had on the railroads. It's ironic that one of the opening scenes of this film shows a high speed passenger train going through a grade crossing. What beautiful cars we had back then. You got a lot for your money.
An even bigger impact on the railroads was the way they were treated by the government. Railroads own and maintain their own infrastructure while trucking companies use ours. Not only were the railroads heavily taxed and regulated the trucking companies (and the airlines) used publicly financed infrastructure and payed less in taxes and fees than the wear and tear they put on the roads.
Yes, this is absolutely true. then after the government was instrumental in running them into the ground they had to bale out the Northeast with taxpayer money and Conrail.
American railroads are the joke of the world. :(
American ingenuity? Nah, after ww2, and our occupation of Germany, we copied the Autobahn that the Nazis had created. About 80% of the US advances made during the 1950s-1960s were from captured Nazi technology, or plans. We went to the moon thanks to Nazi rocket scientists who just a few years prior were designing the rockets that bombed the UK
The real major problem with the railroads was the over-regulation by the government this was remedied with the staggers rail Act
At the time this film was made in the late '50s, people who were pushed out by freeway construction might've complained, but they left their property, regretfully. By the early 1970s people were actively resisting freeways as they were trashing urban neighborhoods and ruining the properties nearby with noise and pollution.
This film is absolutely begging for the "Mystery Science Theater 3000" treatment.
Right!? Get on it, Danny. I expect a script in 18 hours.
@@briane173 I might just do that. Several friends of mine are big classic MST3K fans. I might refer them to this, have them each write down their riffs, and then we reveal them in real time at a group viewing.
Danny Valentini • My daughter is an MST3000 groupie for sure lol
Sloppy Turtle • I’m sorry, what?
Yes! But it needs to be Mike Nelson and Co., not these new goofs.
Here it is... 2019. I live near Cincinnati where there are 4 interstate highways. At rush hour, they are packed in both directions. They were basically finished only 20 years ago, and are constantly under construction to try to alleviate the traffic buildup. Sadly, the interstate highway system, as designed, was 30 years obsolete before it was finished
they should have finished the subway under the parkway to Race street
"the interstate highway system, as designed, was 30 years obsolete before it was finished"
So... they shouldn't have built it at all?
@@scsi_joe - The idiot politicians, because they think the area is "being improved" allow rampant and excessive development... all for tax dollars. Because of this man can never catch up and it creates the urban hell that is becoming most of americas larger cities. You cannot keep stuffing people into urban areas and maintain any kind of quality of life.
@@56squadron wow... We have exactly the same line of thought.. I just couldn't put into words what you wrote. I wholeheartedly agree. It's like every square foot of land must be developed, just so it can make more money, who cares that the people living there will be more stressed and develop more mental illnesses, and quality of life will go down, as a result of the higher density.
In Europe, if we have a problem like that, we just build a Metro (subway)
At 4:06, that blue pitcher was made in my community. It's a ball jug made by the Hall China Company of East Liverpool, Ohio.
Oh, my, I remember we had one just like that!!!!!
I was too busy looking at Sally.
Looks ugly, if it was pink it would look like a pig.
Nice speech by the bespeckled highway official leader (actually a TV/film actor).
None of his promises came true. The interstate highway system did more to estrange people traveling the roads from the local populace than promote friendliness and unity between peoples who shared the same nationality.
Many towns became ghost towns when the interstate highway users whizzed by them knowing that a string of gas, food, and lodging was available on the interstate. I guess the highway officials forgot to tell them that point at the local town meetings. Funds were wasted, diverted to ....? and stolen.
The interstate-highway system was an excellent project but greed, pork barrel politics, lack of accountability, hubristic stupidity ruined it.
Not we are now in a crisis mode regarding our infrastructure. We got the same slimy characters lining up to feed at the through. God help us all.
Just look at route 20 from Albany to Utica. Route 20 was the main east-west route, now it is a collection of hardscrabble towns. All the small gas stations and little restaurants along the route closed.
YeahRoute 90 came through Fairview PA and cut a farm that had been in a family for generations.
They created a monopoly using a turnpike
It's also easy to romanticize the mom-and-pop motels and entertainment joints that lined the pre-Interstate roads. Old travel guides are full of warning notices about how to detect and avoid greasy spoon restaurants, luggage sneak-thieves, confidence tricksters, dives selling adulterated liquor, bedbug-infested rented shacks, and clip joints of all kinds. When Howard Johnson opened the first nationwide chain of clean roadside rests that were all built to a common design and adhered to high common standards, the chain became instantly popular -- b/c its competition had a reputation for being so chancy. Nash Motors actually offered a fold-down double bed option in its poswar cars (1946-51), with a matress and window screens, for use by salesmen, hunters, fishermen, and distance-trekking families who didn't cotton to spinning the wheel of chance as to accomodations every night.
@@roberthaworth8991 And it's still pretty chancey picking out a motel today. I prefer to sleep in my truck than to spend money on some room where God-knows-what has been done.
At the very end of this film it shows the Cypress structure in Oakland, which collapsed in the '89 earthquake.
Bryce Alviso I thought that’s what it was. Not earthquake proof enough, sadly.
Oh, irony of ironies....
Bryce, you've got a sharp eye. That was my thought, too. Of course, driving the double decker portion of the 280 northbound past the 101 flyover still gives me the willies even though CalTrans has retrofitted the support pillars. By the way, I was in Los Angeles in my office on the 33d floor of a high rise and we felt the jolt of the Loma Prieta.
You’re kidding? Ironic no doubt.
It’s sad how we don’t fix anything until people die. We didn’t have serious airport security until after 9-11. Even though they probably would have gotten through even with today’s security.
thank you i was wondering where it was
The idea of the controlled-access freeway was actually first presented to the United States at the General Motors exhibit at the 1939 World's Fair in New York City. The Autopia exhibit featured "the superhighways of tomorrow" set in the then-far-off world of 1960. It showed vehicles being able to go from motorway to motorway at an amazing 50 mph by making some simple left and right hand turns.
The idea of the national highway system though came from Hitler's Autobahn in Germany.
The American Interstate Freeways are a direct copy of Hitler Autobahn Highway System. The 1939 New York World Fair (featuring GM and car centric infrastructure of the future), were all inspired by an Austrian Artist from Germany.
And in my particular US state every non-interstate road is so throughly blanketed with red lights that the state has to add pavement lanes to stage all the vehicles caught waiting between the lights.
Funny how California passed its first freeway law in 1939, providing for limited access highways. California was late to the game, following New Yirk, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, etc. in actually building said highways.
Now the GM exhibit may have brought limited access highways to much of the nation's attention, but it was certainly not the first in the US, not by a longshot.
When I was a kid in the 60's, if you wanted to travel cross country in the USA, it was Route 66 or nothing. Now we have more highways than you can shake a stick at, and the roads are more crowded than ever. There are far too many people on this planet to feel comfortable anymore. Something's got to give.
Sure, "something got to give". Let the USA first temper its consumerist craze. It devores 25% of world resources, while its population is a tiny 5% of world population.
USA should be nuked like Japan to start all over again. Only Russia can do that.
But then the USA in its death throes might still be able to retaliate.
C'mon Bill, I drove from KCMO to central Oregon and back in July, the only traffic hassles i had were in SLC and Denver. I've driven I-29 many a time from Fargo to KC, one can go miles and miles without seeing anyone else on the road.
Ever watched Cars?
Yep.
Route 66 or nothing ? Pick up an old map. Some of you lame asses think Route 66 was the only old road that existed. And by '60's ? Think again. If you were following the route of '66 there were plenty of Interstate miles by that time.
My Dad had a 1950 Ford, that we would drive from west of Odessa to Texarkana before the Interstate. It took about 14 hours back then!
Back then it was about the journey, not the duration
does odessa still have the "night" speed limits?
"....the highway came, and Grandma was sent to the glue factory."
The native Americans had the right idea, some tribes kicked their non-productive old people out into the wilderness.
@@GenerallyGeneralLee So when your ass gets old are we going to kick your buns to the CURB WISE GUY!. Along with guy who left thumbs up?,Probably you!.
@@packingten so true
Many towns wound up watching the world drive by and thus turned to dust.
You watched Cars!
..yep, and many urban centers went down with the program as the new freeways, cut giant swathes bisecting communities and isolating them. Then the street trolleys are finally ripped up and there you have it: a rotting downtown and pockets of low rent slums divided by the spokes of the major freeways.
Progress isn't always pretty. When my daughter was just a toddler I took her to get immunizations. I told her the truth that it was going to hurt a little, but just for awhile, and it would help keep her from getting sick. She took that shot without a tear. I don't know why adults can't see a better good. You live, and probably have always lived with interstate highways. Can you really not see the value in them?
@Uni BlackSister I see it clearly. It was built because vehicle use in America exploded after WWII, and there need to be a way to get people and goods from place to place in a safe and fast manner. Even military goods and vehicles. What is the point I'm missing?
Unintended consequences
Mann i love the sight of infrastructure development and the interstate highway system is one of the most fascinating to me
Our community actively campaigned against the interstate coming through back in the 50's so they routed it about 30 miles east of here. Now, 60 years later, communities served by the interstate are thriving, growing while our community is struggling. That says a lot about the effects of an interstate highway.
It helped many, and i hurt man as well. Sadly the routes chosen had political and racial implications. America as a whole economically is better off because of it, but it was not without cause.
You are right. Long ago, community prosperity typically depended on being on a waterway and particularly at a ford (i.e. London on the Thames, and Oxford in England). Then it depended on railways. That is what made Atlanta a major city. In more recent times, an Interstate is a big plus. Of course, it is best of all to have several transport means. Railroads can bring in raw materials and Interstates can transport the results.
Sounds like where I grew up, but it was fought off in the 70s
There’s a difference between having an interstate run through the middle of your town and one that runs on the outskirts. I’d say being thirty miles from the interstate is a good thing. It allows people to work in the businesses near it while living in a town that is quite and doesn’t attract the big rigs and grifters who follow along. So the money comes into the town without the traffic. Interstates aren’t so special that people want to live next to them.
In the grand scheme of things I’d say move closer to the highway if you think not having one made your town worse off. If you think having fast food joints and truck stops is what defines prosperity I’d say take it easy. Growth will come. Your town will be better off in the long run because people prefer the peace and quiet of not having one nearby. If they build a commuter rail line through you’ll be especially glad they didn’t build the interstate.
If you are an Andy Griffith fan, you'll recognize about half of the members at the Hilldale Council meeting. Including the special guess. He was the choir leader.
I knew I saw most of them before!!
Unfortunately not Barbara Eden
I just drove over 1,000 miles on I 75 and the its looks amazing similar to the interstates of the 1950's!
Yeah I-75 is awesome. Kinda a vintage feel to it, in places. I'm familiar with I-75 in Michigan.
That's telling. I bet there's 10 times the traffic on it today.
@@henrystowe6217 hell yeah. At peak travel hours such as 5-6pm, gridlock is not uncommon. I like driving I-75 at night. You have the road to yourself, except for the fear of deer jumping out from the sides
Henry Stowe Yeah I watched a different black and white video on this same subject and pointed out to my wife “Look there’s only one car on the highway.”
We just build things. We don’t maintain or update things, ok?
Some may have missed that early computers helped design the Interstate system. This was pure space-age tech back in the 50's. Well ahead of their time.
The route designs were highjacked by local politicians. The original concept was to have high speed roads that blended into the existing road systems. The rich locals ended up demanding that the roads go through the cities thus creating the demad for displacing huge swaths of people already living and doing business in built up areas.
A couple/few times each year, I travel by vehicle from Tucson, Arizona to Rockport/Fulton, Texas. Instead of stopping in all of the major cities (Las Cruces, El Paso, San Antonio, Corpus Christi) I ALWAYS make it a point to stop at the smaller towns along the way. Depending on time, I'll stop in Benson, Willcox, Lordsburg, Deming, Fort Hancock, Van Horn, Balmorhea, Fort Stockton, Bakersfield, Ozona, Sonora, Junction, Kerrville, Segovia, Boerne, Bandera, Hondo, Devine, Pleasanton, Whitsett, Beeville, Mathis, Odem, Sinton, and Aransas Pass - not all in the same trip, of course, but they've all been visited. Interstate Highways are great, but it's a nice change to take a different route sometimes.
When I travel out West, I always take a route through small towns. They are interesting. A lot are like ghost towns mostly the ones that bypassed Route 66.
I-287 in western Jersey opened as a divided 4 highway which was out of date the moment the first cars drove on it. It's now 6 lanes and in some areas 8 lanes. And don't forget the constantly under construction I-278 in Brooklyn and Queens where if you're lucky traffic moves at 20 mph.
Ive been driving on I-278 for years and it is always under construction. Rarely see workers tho.
I lived in Northern New Jersey from 85 to 90, and the northwest portion of I-287 hadn't been built by that time. I think it would have cut my travel time to get frlm my home to western NJ.
287 N of Boonton was stalled for years, likely by rich NIMBY’s. It was finally finished in the very early nineties due to freight congestion further in, and the closing of US 209 further west to trucking. It’s completion did help overall congestion in the NYC metro a small amount.
Actually more interesting than I thought it would be.
I recognize several actors.
And the unintended consequence of many arterial bypasses would be the movement of businesses out of the small towns into the outlying areas, in many cases causing downtown areas to decline and some towns to die altogether once folks could just go another 20, 30 or so miles without stopping. Progress that was focused on keeping cars moving and defense transport.
Surely you know defense had nothing to do with it. They called it a defense related project in order to call anyone against it a commie. So GM, Ford, Firestone, Exxon, Mobil, all got what they wanted. Private road builders were shut out of the game. Railroads were dismissed and the government didn’t want a repeat of them, didn’t want to lose the ability to police the people.
These are our true Pioneers of Americas Infastructure, Now we cant even fill potholes Properly.
We can. I've been a road worker for 25 years. Money is the problem. Fuel taxes used for road work have been stagnant for years. Cars use less fuel and key road building materials including oil and machinery cost much more. The mention of higher fuel tax is a non starter, no one wants to pay, so we work with what we've got. Why do you think the country is 20 trillion in debt? Everyone wants services but no one wants to pay for them.
Chris Baumgarten Ironic considering the lies they told to build the expensive infrastructure. Never in human history had such a powerful lobby committed the government to spend so much, for so long. Privatize the roads, let’s get our trillions back and pay off that massive amount. 20 trillion should be enough to privatize every interstate in the country. Perhaps some competition would be a good thing.
I thought Obummer had thousands of shovel ready jobs to fix things. I forget which "Czar" was over that one.
"Obummer" - lol !
I’m in my mid-40s, the interstates have always sort of been there. Hard to believe that just 15 or so years before I was born, most US interstates were just being laid down.
Yeah. I'm 55 and see it the same way.
I'm 58. We used to travel from Sacramento to Portland every summer. I-5 was under construction; you would drive awhile on a freeway stretch, then several miles on the old road. There was always heavy earthmoving equipment working somewhere. My friends and I spent hours building roads in our backyards with our Tonka tractors. Fun times.
At the time this project was started I was still a boy. The first interstate marker I saw was an Interstate 15 on California's Mojave This video brought back a lot of memories. In my youth I lived in Los Angeles. Before 1962 there were a number of street cars and electric buses. Short sighted planners phased them out creating more pollution. When I was a boy street cars ran on Broadway and many other downtown streets. On board a street car there was little sound except the wheels on the track where as buses are noisy. Outside the street car there was a faint hum from the electric motor but most of the faint sound was wheels on the tracks. I saw your cable car video and was fascinated. When I saw this I remembered L.A's street cars. If they didn't keep the street cars they should have kept the electric buses. They were clean and silent. in August of 1958. We were Travling from Los Angeles to Salt Lake. I rode this highway many times over the years and watched it develop. It was quite and undertaking and quite necessary.
My parents were forced to sell a portion of their property for a new spur to the freeway. My father was thrilled because it meant the rest of the property now had commercial value. It ended up being a very lucrative deal for them in the end.
B Mandel May I ask which State this was?
30:43 Great shot of the old MacArthur maze, with a quick view of US 50/CA 17 shields.
Right now, mid 2019, Orange County is widening the main 405 interstate freeway. Complete with tearing down all the pricey road overpasses. If the only had foresight to build 5 and 6 lanes on a side.
There spending plenty of dough adding extra lanes to the Bush Turnpike in Dallas, even though it was designed and originally built not too long ago, when experts had access to population projections. They never get it right hundreds of millions to correct.
I like the way that everyone was so easily convinced and decided to go along with the plan...I guess this was when America was great...lol
It is interesting that the map pictured behind the speaker from 16:13-16:32 shows some future freeway routes in the Los Angeles area. I saw the future San Diego Freeway route that came through and took one half of our back yard for it's constrution when it was completed in 1963, proof that planning was years in advance for thre routes!!!
When they built the Robert Moses Parkway, they moved some houses from the route, to an undeveloped section across the street from me. Early 1960’s
Yeah it's all SoCal probably because they produced this in Hollywood. At 15:00 you can identify Hilldale as San Clemente.
The Interstate highway map that is shown at 05:47 already was out of date in 1957. I-70 heading west is shown ending at Denver. In 1956, however, the continuation of 1-70 to the center of Utah already had been approved by Congress (the map does show I-70 running through Kansas, and that wasn't completed until 1970, so the map shows contemplated routes, too). The continuation past Denver wasn't completed until 1992, which shows how far in the future some of these ideas were looking.
It also shown I-43 going from Green Bay to Duluth which is not a bad idea
Why is this so fascinating
Because it was a beautiful time
We can only wish that we can solve our differences through a mature debate like depicted in the film, not like today with violence in the protests, interrupting commerce and rebel rousing from the politicians so they can get elected.
it will not be the case for the future.
Probably because back then politicians were paid with cash bribes and could deposit the money without any questions asked. People today won’t stand for politicians that ignore their constituents.
I can think of some fairly recent examples of that still happening. It's just like Biden going over to Ukraine to "fight" corruption, and coming back with a high paying no-show job for his son, Hunter. Then, there's the time Biden flew over to China with Hunter, and came back with $1.5 billion for Hunter's "hedge fund." Let's no forget the Clinton Global Initiative pulling in tons of money until Hillary didn't become President, and then all the funds stopped rolling in.
4:51- Sam Edwards, who also appeared frequently on "DRAGNET" in the 1950's and '60s.
An extended study in California in the 1960's showed that every time a highway is expanded to accommodate another 100 cars, close to 180 cars will try to use it. The bigger the highway, the greater the congestion at peak hours. The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake in the San Francisco bay area was an excellent example of how concentrating traffic can backfire. A double-deck limited access highway along San Francisco's water front was normally it was jammed with traffic during the day by cars going from one side of the city to the other. After the earthquake it was ruled unsafe and closed. Predictions by some of massive gridlock on city streets did not occur. There was no perceptible increase in street traffic, yet all the cars were still getting across town. Interviews with drivers showed that they had simply "fanned out" across many city streets finding he most efficient path for their trips. Not being concentrated on one roadway, their presence was not felt. Indeed, many of the drivers who used to take the highway said they now crossed town faster than when they used the limited-access highway. In the end, the highway was torn down and never replaced.
That was the cypress structure across the bay in Oakland that collapsed. Oddly enough, it was included in this film towards the very end. It could be included in the film because it was a very early example of freeway construction. My understanding is that even long before the 1989 earthquake they had improved the reinforcement techniques for those concrete supports you can see at the end of the film to make them perform better in earthquakes.
I remember as a kid rolling around unrestrained in the back of a station wagon riding the roller coaster that was the cypress structure. How could I possibly have survived?
A relative works for CalTrans (California's dept of transportation) and has told me of the studies about widening freeways to serve X number of cars resulting in X+Y numbers of users. Not sure how realistic they are. They use a lot of computer models which can only produce results as good as the parameters fed into them.
For instance, to model traffic flow they have to be supplied with data on the way people drive in traffic. She told me they were amazed that people will tolerate much smaller following distances than they expected when programming the models, which made the models predict much worse traffic flow. The phrase 'Garbage in, Garbage out' leaps to mind.
If I recall, the Embarcadero Freeway in San Francisco was closed long before the earthquake, but was torn down afterwards with the thought that it was never going to be opened again anyway, so why not? It was also just a very short extension of a very highly utilized freeway, so the closed part was not very significant to traffic flow.
There was also the central freeway that was closed after the earthquake, but it was also not very long and there were indeed main surface streets that made perfectly acceptable alternate routes, so that even when it was open I rarely used it. Not really a great example to show that freeways are unnecessary. I certainly wouldn't want to revert to the pre-freeway days.
This is the same moron who will dance with glee when a new public transportation line quickly fills up with riders - look how successful it is!
@@phtharticNo he's talking about the Embarcadero Freeway. Open 1959, Demolished 1990. It was damaged in the earthquake. The city decided to not replace it. The result are unobstructed views of downtown waterfront. The freeway was double decker and ugly;
That's why I say if you need more than 3 lanes per direction, you need public transit like trains. Not only for passengers, but also freight.
if only the made cars half as stylish as they do now the they used to do then I would consider liking one!!
computers design cars now thats why they all look a like now, its a bummer
Cars today and like they were in the 30s. Their pretty much all the same and don't stand out at all.
@@katieducky23 Look at a car from the 20s or early 30s and look at the basic shape of your SUVs today ,and the cars remind me of Jelly beans on wheels.,they all look the same , but,the 60s,70s and even the downsize 80s had their own looks.Thats because there is no more individuals left in the world and the car companies know this ,Younger generations dont want to be different than the majority .they are too afraid to be themselves ,LOL
@@benmussolini2284 It's less expensive to run with the same design for years at a time. The upgrades are inside the cars, hardly sexy ... but for the consumer, the cars are better now ... just not very interesting.
@@benmussolini2284 It's less expensive to run with the same design for years at a time. The upgrades are inside the cars, hardly sexy ... but for the consumer, the cars are better now ... just not very interesting.
I recognize a couple of faces from Dragnet.
Neighborhood destruction was the main side effects of this system of roads. What to guess who's homes were moved....it wasn't rich people's.
Those IBM computers told them exactly whose properties they'd be going through.
The culture that grew up as a result of the interstate highway system had its dark side too. Severe traffic congestion in cities for several hours every work day, ugly signs, standardized franchise fast food and cheap retail businesses that destroy place identity. The highway system was wonderful in the beginning but like most everything else, there were unseen consequences for the "improvements" it made in our lives.
You'll be hard-pressed to find a PSA film that refers to computers much before this one.
PSA like Mine Conf is a PSA.
Only the cheap/selfish/greedy people oppose the government.
While our hero's sacrifice their rights for the greater good.
I wonder if Stalin ever saw this? I wonder what he thought?
I remember films & TV programmes of the '50s & '60s referring to computers as "electronic brains" like they did in this film.
20:00 looks like what is now I-270 in Maryland, then, I think US 240 and shortly after, I-70S. I am thinking between Damascus and Frederick.
The newest car I saw was a 1958. Must be the great year of 1958.
Matrox: At the beginning of the film, it showed in Roman numerals that this was made in 1957. So it could have been filmed October-November when those '58's would have been in the showroom.
I was born in '61, and it's interesting to see that 'bout all those cars were on the road by the time I came along! 😏
I saw the 57 Chevy convertible,, I didn't see any 58 chevys. That's the old cars I know best so there could be some 58 models of other makes.
The newest car I saw was a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air convertible that was getting it's window cleaned at the service station. The average car looked to be 1954ish but that isn't to say I missed a 1958, considering that era was the Pinnacle of year-to-year design changes and the new model years back then came out in September so that leaves 3+ months of production.
Charles Kuralt once said that the Interstate was the best way to get from one place to another without seeing anything.
Bertram Tallomy was the one who picked out the colors for Interstate signs. Bertram was color blind and he wanted the signs to be blue with white letters.
After several tests in which drivers saw which sign color was best; they overwhelmingly chose green with white letters. Bertram agreed, and today the signs are that color because they are the most visible at night and most reflective.
Glen Anderson was right because the freeway is nearly functionally absolute from traffic. I remember watching the progress every time we went to the airport. It took my grandparent's home in 1985 but we were excited to ride on the second day of it being open. It's a marvel of engineering but holy crap the displacement it caused.
Interstate system based entirely on the Autobahn in Germany. Eisenhower recognized the value in this road system.
and now look at it...constantly under repair or choked with bumper to bumper traffic.
too many cars for the road available, poorly designed and maintained roads, cheap gas etc choke the roads.
@@smartrubberchicken Sadly, people still don't know that the left lane is the passing lane
@@chuckwin100 70 years has gone by. Our population has doubled. You would think our government would step up and adapt with thetimes. But nah, too corrupt. It's a shame.
maybe the railroad could have improved more to be like those in europe although it has to some extent. what i find weird is the roads into los angeles so choked yet, up until recently, nothing serious was done to improve public transportation.
The music at 15:14 is used in another flim from the era, Union Pacific, Last Of The Giants
"Everyone needs gas and oil." Yup--back when you added or at least checked oil every fill up.
And it was usually a neatly dressed (and pressed) uniformed "station attendant" with a cap on who checked not only the oil, but your water and, when asked politely, your tire pressure, too! The loss of those guys probably created a lot of unemployment.
Believe or not cars is built in those days were not built as well as they are today. No way in the 1950s or even in the 1960s you could put 300,000 miles on a car, you would be lucky if you could put 100,000 miles on your car in those days.
I'd rather have one of those cars from back then than what's being made today. If you hit one with what they made today the one they make today would be totaled and the older one would still be good to go. Back then you didn't have trouble telling one from another either. Today's cars look like clones.
@@DNDZOLLER My '67 LeSabre has 0ver 400k miles on it. I will drive it to work tomorrow without any problems - and I don't have to mortgage my house when a "sensor" or "computer" goes bad.
@@DNDZOLLER But on the other hand, cars from 50's & 60's were MUCH easier to fix than those of today. One needn't spend 1000's of dollars on tools, for example. And they weren't so complicated.
Real men solving real problems unlike today men thinking which next tattoo am I getting
Like how much cash they were going to deposit. No need to worry about money laundering because depositing cash wasn’t tracked.
Congratulations, the federal government just committed to spending trillions of dollars for an interstate highway system. They would level half the cities in the country, the cities would level half their buildings for parking lots. What was left were some ass ugly cities with far fewer reasons to stick around. With transit systems having been bought up by GM the final nails for our cities coffins were hammered in place.
If you didn’t agree with this trillion dollar defense spending plan you were called a commie.
So real men making real decisions is more like oil, auto and rubber lobbies having convinced lawmakers where to spend trillions of taxpayer dollars.
I’d rather see a tattooed young man feel free to express himself all the while creating wealth in the internet world.
Christ insufferable idiot 😂 highways are built today for the same fkn reasons😂
I like the part were the service station owner asked about fit it would hurt his business. The answer the speaker gave was total BS. My father owned a service station in Sacromento in 1963 we were selling over 3,000 gallons of gasoline a day plus all the other things you sell Tires Batteries oil and etc. the day before highway 99 opened Broadway was 99 and we were selling all that I said here. The next day the new freeway (highway 99) opened and we dropped to less than 300 gallons a day and never came back to the sales we had before. My dad had to go out of business. So did a lot of other business’s on Broadway
And I beg to ask why didn’t he open a new location off the new interstate ramp? Clearly people still required fuel.
@@IcelanderUSer Probably priced out of it
YUP IT SURE was and I felt it. There was alot in there that makes me feel like a mortal man...... smells a bit robotic.
Despite major problems, this has always been an example of a country that makes , that undertakes, transforms.
20:10 I love how they say by building the freeway through blighted areas, it will clean them up. WRONG! It makes the area worse and forces people out of homes and businesses and nobody wants to live next to a busy highway. If you don't believe me, take a good look at Overtown in Miami and see how 50 years ago it was a vibrant place.
Yeah-they stuffed the Blacks into those high rise Housing projects, and then ended up having to dynamite most of them a Generation later
Often it was the thriving black communities that got destroyed at the behest of "civic" leaders.
Rural expressways raise the value of surrounding property, but urban expressways destroy the developed areas through which they go.
And the neighborhoods not destroyed that are next to the freeways? Property values dropped immediately and they became the new slums.
Im sure people all along route 66, hwy 99 and hwy 385 loved this film.
"and everyone will be entitled to room on our highways" God how refreshing to hear people talk about responding to what the public want rather than telling them what they should want instead!
You fail to realize that not everyone wants to spend trillions building freeways that serve no one other than suburbanites wanting quick commutes back to their isolated communities. The great cities of the world were all built without interstate systems or even automobiles. People need to start thinking about who actually pays for the so-called “freeways”.
The “traditional” go into an inner city for a desk job in many cases doesn’t exist anymore. Many are now dispersed along ring roads or beltways. Making “transit” just about unworkable. Rail is “fixed” one has to get to a station. A rubber tired liquid fueled bus is a better option.
Emma Glock is really serious about her beautification projects. Don't mess with Ms. Glock.
Based on her wardrobe I think she should be replaced. (3:50 "Et tu, Brute?")
When the Kentucky Toll road (later became part of I-65) in the mid-50s, my uncle was running the Pan American & Humminbird up and down Muldraughs Hill, then and now, right next to the highway. He said he was looking at the end of the passenger train and that plus cheap air fares has done it. Amtrak is pretty much useless. I am old enough that I do not like to drive long distances, and the train does not go where I need to go, so SouthWest Airlines gets my travel business - Once a year, Florida to New Mexico to visit a real passenger train - Cumbres & Toltec Scenic. Eisenhouer shot the passenger train.
People don't want to sit on a train for 40 hours when they can fly in 4 hours. Ig you don't want to fly there's always Greyhound.
During the peak of American culture!
Americana
That voiceless black kid at the shoeshine stand might disagree with you.
@@Putaspellonyou Yeah because that's his land
@@PickleRicksFATASSCOUSIN I'm sure that's a logical response on some topic somewhere. I simply don't have time to help you figure out where...sorry
Putaspellonyou Not only the commenter but also every person who thinks their old Main Street being fully occupied. They fail to realize how vibrant we are today. How many more people today can succeed within a truly meritocratic country. There are far more opportunities today for economic success than there ever were back then. That is if you have something of value to offer. Blue states and their people encourage creativity. They don’t preach from high alters how others should live and behave. Blue states are truly live and let live. I mention this here because of how many red staters pine for days gone by. They think the 50s was some wondertime when in reality your success was dependent on some big corporation hiring you. Only a few could be entrepreneurial and succeed.
At 30:58, that reminds me of a spoof traffic report I once heard on the radio: "Traffic on the Cross Bronx Expressway is backed up to Santa Monica."
"Mr. Norton" is Olan Soule, who played the court clerk on "Perry Mason."
I thought he looked familiar... he actually was married to my Grandpa's cousin
He was on Captain Midnight also. Remember him?
He was also Batman on the Super Friends!
Hilldale!, I though I saw Marty Mcfly, and Biff.
YES! (I thought it was Hill Valley....)
@@briane173 Hill valley was where they lived in 1985, Hilldale is where they live in 2015.
4:56 Mr. Norton's a busy man. In addition to his duties with the government, he's also Mayberry's choir director.
Notice the National Slag Association was one of the proud sponsors of this masterpiece.
Shhh! That's the NSA!
A great look back.
And then of course if we find end endangered grasshopper or frog or termite we have to rework the entire highway system plan and the cost of 12 Years and 7 times the budget to do an environmental study. Yes, we built the Empire State Building in one year but in today's world it would take 13 and a half.
Not in China. Why they have high speed rail everywhere...
@ hardrock master - cuz china has forced labor and no union to keep gov in check so they can pay u and make u do whatever they want 🤷♂️
"Mr. Harper" is being played by actor Sam Edwards, who would go on to play several roles in "The Andy Griffin Show"< along with Olan Soule (playing "Mr. Norton").
Bil Thomas Yeah. Mr. Norton was the Mayberry choir director and he did not like Barney Fife’s singing. Lol,
The Dakota Access Pipeline came right through my yard. The first thing the cowboy hat,, blue jean clad New York lawyer asked me was if I wanted to be a good patriotic citizen and allow the thing to come by my house. I told him to get out his checkbook.
Damn right.
Be patriotic? Let a Canadian oil company build a pipeline across our nation so they can make more money on the international market has nothing to do with patriotism. In fact keeping that oil here for our use would be truly patriotic. For every man who got a check there were thousands who didn’t get one and yet would be subject to higher fuel prices and the risks of a pipeline failure.
I love how republicans have politicized a Canadian oil company’s priorities. You think they want to get their oil to the gulf refineries so they can lower the price of oil? They have to get their fuel into the world economy where they can make a killing economically. They’re using volatile and easily outraged right wingers to promote their agenda. Turning this into a right vs. left drama was the smartest thing they could do. Involve Obama, claim it’s a Native American liberal conspiracy that is blocking the pipeline. What a pathetic joke.
@@IcelanderUSer neither side is trustworthy, both corrupt and willing to take big checks at the cost of the people. I just stay neutral in politics.
In The Philippines,until privatization of tollways, most of the Expressways are based on Interstate Highway Standards until 2005 including South Luzon Expressway from 1967 to 2010 when it was modernized by Malaysian Contractors based on Malaysian Expressways until 2015 when it was taken to San Miguel Corporation with Indonesian Contractors
At present,the STAR(Southern Tagalog Arterial Road) was the only Philippine Expressway that remained the Interstate Highway Standards except one-lane highway towards Batangas City since 2001
I love the United States interstate. I made a couple videos to share my love for the history of it.
Urban decay and flight to suburbs was well underway by 1956. The urban sections should have been built first to get them all done. Instead many easy rural sections were tackled first to show "early progress". By the late sixties costs and opposition had cancelled several important pieces in Boston Memphis and Washington.
But there some Interstate have gaps
Dave Stewart And the problem was?
Bulldozing a city first to ensure completion sounds like something that happened in a totalitarian society. In a free country people can object to their governments plans and perhaps change its course. Not everyone supported or had reason to support the wholesale destruction of their communities so that suburban folks could get to their jobs quicker. Especially considering there being other ways of achieving the same thing. Making a city destroy itself to accommodate sensitive suburbanites was insanity. We should choose our leaders better.
B bo, “urban renewal” started in the mid 1950’s, tearing down “substandard” housing to build “projects,” public housing, so bad much of had to be torn down.
I love them, too. A mammoth, visionary project, well-executed yet with plenty of room for expansion and change. These old coots who sing the praises of the dusty, bumpy two-lanes of their memories gotta getta life. Towns divided by the interstate had a chance to run their concerns up the chain, but you know, there were powerful people in those same towns who were just ITCHING for the interstate to arrive -- no matter what they may have claimed in public.
If we're going to focus on European influences , The Italian Autostrada predates the Autobahn .
But meanwhile the The Pennsylvania Turnpike was started in the 1930's .
Yes. And that's how our highway system should have been funded. The Feds got way too much influence and power over the states with all the rules to build new roads. In addition, the Feds used gas tax revenue to coerce states to post 55 mph speed limits between 74 and 95.
Mr Snavely is played by Paul Newlan who played General Pritchard in the 12 oclock High TV series.
Great film!! and a great message, even for today's audiences! Keep 'em coming, these are fantastic gems of Americana!
You don’t see this as propaganda? Who do you think paid for this? Is that ok?
The guy at 10:12 was one of Jack Webb's regular stable of actors on Dragnet.
For those who decry the Interstate Highways...I'll bet you never drove from Wisconsin to Florida on Hy 41. Two lanes ... driving right through all the cities on the way...300 miles a day was about all you could do, and it was no fun
Just as bad even now just going direct from La Crosse to Green Bay. Not a single improved road going NE-SW in that state.
So was this dude 5:00
What’s long forgotten is how we came to expect these roads from the federal government. We don’t demand top notch interstates from private businesses even though the best roads in the country are private or pseudo private. Toll crossings usually. Like bridges and tunnels. So why is this? Why don’t private businesses build roads? One reason is they cost too much to ever recoup costs by a private company. Two, no private toll could compete with a government road. Which would be free or nearly free. Imagine if road users had to pay 100% of road costs. What would it cost users? We have the technology to charge users based on their usage.
Anyhow, imagine a time when the federal gov needed the permission of cities and states to move men and equipment around. States really had more power than the feds wanted them to. By paying for interstates they could ensure easy passage. One reason.
I like the "electronic brain" that they used to do the calculations, even though the smart phone in my pocket has more than 100 times the computing strength. It is still fascinating how they did this mostly with slide rulers with pen and paper.
In the beginning did You Listen it was developed all by computer.
Springfield needs a monorail...
The ring came off my pudding can.
I call the big one "Bitey"!
Surprised Doc and Marty weren't at the Hilldale meeting.
Right, and the small town I was raised in was literally cut in half by the Interstate. It destroyed Main Street, devestated our tax structure, and the town was never the same. It's all but a ghost town compared to what it used to be.
What town/state was that?
Remember they told people your town would become a ghost town if they didn’t bulldoze it for the highway. So what happened was the town was raped, disfigured, bloodied and then murdered. They could have just ignored it and the town would have survived to see another day. Would have had a chance. But the damage done was too much.
Once Grandma sees the check, she won't care about those trees
And yet you drive on these very roads with relative comfort, speed, and ease. Can you imagine taking small town roads from coast to coast, having to stop multiple times in every little town?
@@Ringele5574 right I left Sunday from Daytona beach Fl at 1 pm and went to Manning South Carolina and was there at 6 pm check into my hotel and was able to rest for my job that was on Monday at GP I live Fl but every week I'm in a different state working but I'm able to be home 3 days a week because of that road
10:16 "Mr. Anderson, can you please explain the MATRIX of roads to these good people?"
Wow that guy who had his house taken at the end for right-of-way sure did feel altruistic. It’s amazing how easily people in the 50’s could be convinced of something ;-)
Unlike "influencers" currently making people into followers. So what is the difference.........
Actually there was less external persuasion & a person had more liberties to form their own ideals, morals & principles. Now go watch some pornos, you.
Notice the men in the construction footage. No hard hats, no blaze orange or bight yellow-green high visibility vests, and likely no safety shoes. The Occupational and Safety and Health Act (OSHA) was not passed by Congress until 1970.
And as a construction worker but hate OSHA
They're like the DOT but for Construction, they'll always find something wrong and give you a ticket for their bonus.
Good old days
When The "Fellow man Watched out for the Other"
That's because actual men built those roads, not confused, gender fluid pansies who fashion model their mothers underwear at night.
Yes, it is interesting, people often perform better with little or no safety nets...
The interstate system had more to do with national security than with ease of movement for traffic. But, it really did make a difference in getting from point A to point B.
It had more to do with the lobbyists from the oil, auto, and rubber industry.
It had more to do with the overall expansion of the economy, and providing the foundations for government control.
It was sold to the 1950's public as a national defense project that would enable rapid deployment of "troops" to key areas throughout the US. The sad truth was that the Russkies finally got us through our smartphones while our military was busy in Afghanistan.
Hal VanSlyck it was all a plot by the Russkies to sap and impurify our precious bodily fluids.
The 1956 Interstate Highway Act was primarily built with the idea of American government officials being able to orderly evacuate large populations of both towns and cities in an orderly and efficient fashion based on the very real possibility of an atomic bomb being dropped by the Soviets. If you didn't away in time, you ran to your backyard fallout shelter or drove to your local Civil Defense Fallout Shelter with their distinctive black and yellow triangle decals plastered on libraries, hospitals, schools and any large building with a basement. You found out what to do during an attack by dialing your radio to the band marked for local "Conalrad" stations.
I envy people in that good time until 1985, after which the world changed for the worse in terms of human nature, industry, morals, and everything in this film. People see the summit in everything in their clothing, in their dealings, in the automobile industry, its durability, quality, beautiful shape, human shapes, and their elegant and tidy dress. Forcing you to hear what he says now, everything at the height of backwardness is industry, morals, forms and life
America would be nothing without interstates
Yep. Then they stiffed us with the double nickel for way too many years rendering the interstate to "just another road", status. They're still great roads but slowed down considerably relative to their potential. Many sections should be Autobahn status.
Agreed. It was necessary I think.
Or Farm > Market roads.
Amen!!
America would be nothing without the railroads. Then before that horse and wagon. It's all about transportation, one way or another.
My parents drove a VW Beetle from New York to Mexico City in 1958. Twenty years later I traveled across the USA for the first time in my VW Microbus. Much of the highway I traveled on wasn't even built when my parents traveled on their big trip.
The part where they talk about it running through blight and slums was concerning. They basically split neighborhoods in two and further depressed poor neighborhoods.
But with anything there was good and bad. Good being easier commerce across the nation, bad in that it facilitated sprawl and boosting the presence of more and more cars.
Now we widen these monstrosities instead of spending money on more efficient modes of transport.
@gordon mathew Not sure what you mean? You pay taxes, I pay taxes. Those funds are used to perpetuate these injustices.
Right through those blighted or slum areas! Well, at least they said it out loud.