Eisenhower's 'autobahn' at 50

Christian Science Monitor ^ | June 28, 2006 | Editorial

[jmcenanly]

the Interstate fully transformed Americans into a car-centric, oil-guzzling, and pollution-spewing people. Uh, OK, now I get it.

As opposed to eco-friendly peasants who never wander further than seven miles from the place where they were born

[ErnBatavia]

LA 2006

..one of the major reasons I chucked my job in L.A. four years ago and moved to the desert....when you walk out in the morning and flip your car the bird, you know it's time to hang it up.

[Just A Nobody]

We are being invaded.

Not to worry.....we're building a super highway to facilitate it.

[ElkGroveDan]

Having said that, we've driven the I-5 from San Diego all the way to Blaine, Washington, and with some exceptions, notably the magnificient Siskiyou Mountains, it's dull and boring.

Well you're supposed to get off the Interstate now and then and see the sites. If you read travel magazines or study geology you can get a better insight as to the best places to go. Even studying a detailed map will give you ideas of where to get off and what to do. AAA have some great travel guides.

In Sacramento, you should have gone East on Highway 50 to Placerville and from there up the road to Coloma where gold was discovered in California. On your way back you would stop in Sacramento, see the Capitol, the museums, old Sacramento and take a ride on a riverboat.

[HIDEK6]

Having said that, we've driven the I-5 from San Diego all the way to Blaine, Washington, and with some exceptions, notably the magnificient Siskiyou Mountains, it's dull and boring.

I guess Ike wasn't gay enough.

[Inspectorette]

Would love to do that, as well as spending some time in the Redding-McCloud area.

Our problem is that we're always hell bent for leather to get to or from Santa Maria, CA - Lincoln City, Oregon. Kind of goofy on our part, now that we're retired. I think we're still in the old "we only have a week for vacation" mode.

Kid just arrived back in the States today after three years on Okinawa. SIL will be stationed at MCRD-San Diego. Now that we're living on the Oregon Coast, looks like we'll be up and down the I-5 ribbon quite often.

[pepsi_junkie]

On top of that having to pay and repay for shoddy workmanship done half ass by construction crews that know they're working off the government's dime.

I wan in Germany once and saw a section of Ike's inspiration for this, the Autobahn, under repair. You cant beleive the depth of the concrete, almost three feet! I was told by a German colleague that the oldest sections of the Autobahn were constructed to allow for massive movements of tanks, and thus the insane strength of the roads. The US interstates arent quite so robust!

[stan_25]

The parts that were built 50 years ago are already being replaced and changed. There are some parts that are being abandoned and rerouted to service other needs.

The Big Dig cost more that the entire system combined. I imagine that there were huge kickbacks to the Kennedys and to John Kerry.

As for the railroads, they did that to themselves. They priced themselves out of the markets years ago. People have found that hauling freight by truck is much cheaper and quicker. With a truck, you can take the load right to the location where it is needed

[statered]

You know the flip side is it makes it easier for an invading army to conquer you.

[ElkGroveDan]

Not sure how you can call giving the opening for the federal government to intervene into what are clearly state issues (drinking age, seat belt laws, etc) as a 'gift'.

I hate all those federal requirements as much as you do. The government busybodies would have passed those laws had there only been a half-ass interstate highway system.

On top of that having to pay and repay for shoddy workmanship done half ass by construction crews that know they're working off the government's dime.

The Interstate highways for the most part are built and repaired on a contract basis. If the employees of those contractors are going to goof off or perform substandard work, then it's the private contractors who are going to suffer financially.

More like yet another curse laid upon us by the national government

OK you stay home and cry in your pillow. No one will miss you on the tour of Carlsbad Caverns.

[Ignatz]

"But the hoi polloi... "
(hoi means "the", thus "the hoi polloi" means "the the polloi").

-Iggy

[Cincinatus]

Pedantry.

[Bryan24]

Now we need a major overhaul.

Almost every interstate in this country needs an extra lane added.

I propose that all on-ramps not merge but become the "far outside lane" and that that lane will always be "Exit only.

The two left lanes would never (well, almost) have to worry about slow, merging traffic.

[Lazamataz]

hell bent for leather

What the hell does this mean? I mean, I know what it means, but it's a very strange phrase. Who is bent to Hades for dead animal skin?

[Lazamataz]

Almost every interstate in this country needs an extra lane added.

I know! Let's build TWO interstates!

Signed,

Future President Laz

[Ignatz]

I'm just trying to be helpful, what does jewelry have to to do with it?
You said PEDantry, not PENDantry?

Ohhhhhhh!
Never mind.

;)

[RightWhale]

Looks like the modern Mississipi River trade route. At least the Brits don't hold one end of it and the Spanish the other. Or the French. Or do they?

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

I grew up in a small town in central IL along Route 66 which eventually built out as I-55. But Route 66 still holds a place in our hearts!

Get Your Kicks on Route 66!

[KC_Conspirator]

As the world's largest public-works project, the Interstate fully transformed Americans into a car-centric, oil-guzzling, and pollution-spewing people.

I read this and thought, "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is this $hit!". What a biased, self-hating article! It also helped transform America into the economic, social, and intellectual capitol it is today.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

One of these days I'd like to the luxury of time and money to travel I-80 all the way from Boston to San Francisco.