Posted on 06/28/2006 11:04:21 AM PDT by Graybeard58
On June 29, 1956, President Eisenhower signed a bill to build the Interstate Highway System - a dream of his since he crossed the US in 1919 and, later, after he saw Hitler's autobahn. Little did he know what 46,876 miles of expressways would do.
Fifty years on, the nation is still taking stock of the impact of high-speed roads connecting big cities. The system was finished only last year with the completion of Boston's "Big Dig" project. Instead of taking 10 years and $50 billion to build as envisioned, the 62 routes took nearly a halfcentury to finish and, in today's dollars, cost $425 billion.
Just as the "information superhighway" (the Internet) is now taken for granted as essential to daily life, so, too, is the Interstate Highway System. Both require amazing levels of cooperation to build and maintain. Both have helped unify the country. And yet both are bearers of good and bad effects. In fact, lessons from the Interstate are worth applying to the Internet, which is still in relative infancy.
As the world's largest public-works project, the Interstate fully transformed Americans into a car-centric, oil-guzzling, and pollution-spewing people. Soon after the system's first cross-country link (I-80) was completed in 1986, Al Gore declared, hyperbolically, that the automobile's environmental effects is "more deadly than that of any military enemy we are ever again likely to confront." That warning is quite a contrast from an original reason for the Interstate, which was to allow quick movement of military forces and, possibly, mass evacuations of cities during the cold war. (The exodus of 1.5 million people before hurricane Katrina proved the worth of big highways.)
The Internet, too, originated as a useful tool for sharing military research, and while serving the public immensely, it also serves as a vehicle for terrorist communications and forfor other vice from porn to gambling.
Some say it has adversely altered community life, creating new forms of isolation, much the way Interstates tore up cities and helped create sprawling, pedestrian-unfriendly suburbs. More communities now want sound-barriers along Interstates and to limit the highways' impact on downtown life, while many people want to limit the Internet's effects and return to face-to-face talking.
What really pushed both the Interstate and the Internet into full blossom was business. (Both systems greatly boosted economic productivity.) The trucking industry lobbied heavily for new highways, while Internet-dependent businesses today are fighting to expand (or control) the Web.
Both these people-connectors are suffering from congestion and inadequate maintenance. To keep up with repairs of the Interstate, some states are turning to private ownership and mileage fees. To expand the Internet, cable and telephone companies want to charge for high-speed access.
Indeed, both systems allow Americans to speed up their lives. But the Interstate's effects show society must humbly, carefully adopt the Internet.
At the 1939 New York World's Fair, a General Motors exhibit called Futurama predicted fast highways by 1960, with speeds up to 100 m.p.h. A narrator's voice carried both hope and caution: "Who can say what new horizons lie before us?"
The interstate highway system also gave us the Holiday Inn.
Arm chair quarterbacks are dime a dozen.....experts like you lend nothing to a credible argument... Try making decisions in the heat of war...where not only you but the folks under your command are in harms way....then come back and tell me about General Eisenhower's mistakes..
And franchised businesses in general. One of the primary ideas of early franchisers was to be able to provide consistency, so no matter where people went with their new found freedom of the interstate they would know that if they saw (insert your favorite franchised business sign here) they would know what kind of food and service to expect. Having done some experimental roadside dining I've come to apreciate that, on a long trip after a couple of bad lunches you see a McDonalds as a welcome home coming, sure they suck but at least you already know exactly how they're going to suck.
Let hear it for Kimmons Willson.
... and the bathrooms at Mickey D's are almost always perfectly clean. I say "almost always" because there is probably some exception somewhere on any given day.
That is always listed tops on their customer service surveys.
He was quite a visionary.
And about 1,000,000 "See Rock City" signs, to replace the old Burma~Shave signs that dotted the state and U.S. highways.
Along with defense spending, this is one of the non-negotiables that our govt should do.
Mr. Wilson lapped over into real estate development and banking. Big benefit for Memphis. He world be neck and neck with Clarence Saunder, who gave us the supermarket, a la Piggly Wiggly. However Saunders went broke for his efforts.
Isn't that a reference to cowboys?
Eisenhower never made a decision in the heat of battle. He missed WW1, he rarely made trips to the front line in WW2.
One led to another.
Failing to surround the Germans at Falaise led to the escape of a good chunk of that region's commanders and supporting staff. The reorganization of the German western armies combined with Eisenhower's allocation of supplies to Market-Garden led to a general stalemate, especially after Market-Garden's failure. The slow advance of the allies allowed Hitler to plan and build up forces for the Ardennes Offensive.
Zing.
You are officially forgiven for the one time you shoved that H. Thomas picture in my face.
Actually, CSX and NS (Norfolk Southern) purchased the Pennsylvania Railway in the mid to late 90's. Orignally, NS made a bid for PRR, and CSX made one a bit higher. The state of PA forced both companies to purchase the old PRR at a much higher cost. The state of PA is very protective of its homestate businesses. Remember what they did to Hershey Foods a few years back?
Invalidates pretty much the entire article.
The Big Dig was just a omney siphon from politicians to cronies with tax funded dollars.
Re #96
You're just asking for it when you mention certain names around here.
The interstate highways system is one of THREE things the Federal government does right (the military and national parks system are the other two). When I have driven in Canada or certain countries in Europe, the "limited access highways" left little to be desired, and made me miss Ike's interstate.
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