To achieve a simultaneous completion in all States, the Congress periodically required the BPR, and later FHWA, to develop a new estimate of the cost to complete the System and to serve as the basis for apportionments until the next estimate was prepared.īetween 19, 15 legislatively-mandated estimates were prepared and submitted to Congress. In this way, the Act guaranteed construction of all segments on a "pay-as-you-go" basis, thus satisfying one of President Eisenhower's primary requirements, namely that the program be self financing without contributing to the Federal budget deficit.Ī new method of distributing funds among the States was necessitated by the 1956 Act and was based on each State receiving a share of the annual Interstate Construction fund authorization in the same proportion as the cost to complete its System bore to the cost of the System in all States. Revenue from the Federal gas and other motor-vehicle user taxes was credited to the Highway Trust Fund to pay the Federal share of Interstate and all other Federal-aid highway projects. Title II of the Act - entitled the Highway Revenue Act of 1956 - created the Highway Trust Fund as a dedicated source for the Interstate System. It also called for nationwide standards for design of the System, authorized an accelerated program, established a new method for apportioning funds among the States, changed the name to the National System of Interstate and Defense Highway, and set the Federal Government's share of project cost at 90 percent. Title I of the 1956 Act increased the System's proposed length to 41,000 miles. It served as a catalyst for the System's development and, ultimately, its completion. Under the leadership of President Eisenhower, the question of how to fund the Interstate System was resolved with enactment of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956. Legislation in 1954 authorized an additional $175 million annually for FY 19. The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1952 authorized the first funding specifically for System construction, but it was only a token amount of $25 million a year for fiscal years (FY) 19. As a result, progress on construction was slow. However, neither the 1944 act nor later legislation in the 1940's authorized funds specifically for the Interstate System. The routes had been proposed by the State highway agencies and reviewed by the Department of Defense. Fleming announced selection of the first 37,700 miles. On August 2, 1947, Commissioner MacDonald and Federal Works Administrator Philip B. so located, as to connect by routes, direct as practical, the principal metropolitan areas, cities, and industrial centers, to serve the National Defense, and to connect at suitable border points, routes of continental importance in the Dominion of Canada and the Republic of Mexico." The act called for designation of a National System of Interstate Highways, to include up to 40,000 miles ". In the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1944, the Congress acted on these recommendations. Original Designation of the Interstate System The committee's January 1944 report, Interregional Highways, supported a system of 33,900 miles, plus an additional 5,000 miles of auxiliary urban routes. MacDonald, to evaluate the need for a national expressway system. Roosevelt appointed a National Interregional Highway Committee, headed by Commissioner of Public Roads Thomas H. Instead, the BPR's report advocated a 26,700-mile interregional highway network. The BPR's report, Toll Roads and Free Roads, demonstrated that a toll network would not be self-supporting. The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1938 called on the Bureau of Public Roads (BPR), the predecessor of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), to study the feasibility of a toll-financed system of three east-west and three north-south superhighways. Eisenhower System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly called "The Interstate System," began in the late 1930's. Planning for what is now known as the Dwight D. Eisenhower System of Interstate and Defense Highways Part I - History A Brief History All information is as of 1998 when the Office of Engineering compiled the report. In making this information available to the public, we have not updated the material. In 1998, with the Interstate System essentially complete, FHWA's Office of Engineering compiled information about development of the program.
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