[deport]

One Mile in Five: Debunking The Myth
by Richard F. Weingroff
Editor’s Note: In the following article, we let the Federal Highway Administration’s “unofficial historian” get something off his chest. He needed to vent.

I don’t know if 10 percent of the Russian government’s income comes from the sale of vodka. I don’t know if a cow can go upstairs, but not downstairs. And I certainly don’t know if a duck’s quack doesn’t echo.

But I do know the following statement is false: The Eisenhower Interstate Highway System requires that one mile in every five must be straight. These straight sections are usable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies.

False though it is, this “fact” has become a fixture of Internet Web sites with names such as “You Probably Didn’t Know That ...” and “Weird Fact Heaven.”

https://highways.dot.gov/public-roads/mayjune-2000/one-mile-five-debunking-myth

[deport]

One Mile in Five: Debunking The Myth by Richard F. Weingroff

In the hope that this article will find its way into Public Roads and Public Roads Online and will be seen by Internet surfers, I will conclude by saying that, for all I know, there are 293 ways to make change for a dollar, snails can sleep for three years without eating, and an ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain. BUT NO LAW, REGULATION, POLICY, OR SLIVER OF RED TAPE REQUIRES THAT ONE OUT OF FIVE MILES OF THE INTERSTATE HIGHWAY SYSTEM MUST BE STRAIGHT. Trust me on that. Please! Editor's Note: Mr. Weingroff reports that his blood pressure improved considerably shortly after writing this article. Richard F. Weingroff, who works in the Federal Highway Administration's Office of Infrastructure, is an information liaison specialist who also doesn't like being asked, "So what the heck is an information liaison specialist anyway?"

[metmom]

Ok, so it’s just another urban legend.

[Zuriel]

Yeah, no doubt a myth, but see my list on #18. Aside from avoiding overpasses, probably at least on 3/4th of IL interstate miles regional jets might knock down some signs, but little private planes have little problem anywhere outside of the metros.