| Today, one can easily travel by automobile | | | | America's horizons for leisurely travel and |
| from one edge of the country to another given | | | | commerce alike. Evolving military needs |
| the time, patience and resources. Today's | | | | during World War II shifted the focus of road |
| vast roadway infrastructure combined with | | | | construction, prompting the proliferation of |
| ever improving automobile manufacturing | | | | military use roads that were capable of |
| technology gives motorists of the United | | | | withstanding heavier loads. |
| States travel options that were unheard of | | | | |
| just a few decades ago. Drivers can now | | | | After World War II, President Franklin |
| navigate thousands of miles on paved roads | | | | Roosevelt authorized a "National System of |
| through rural areas and metropolitan cities | | | | Interstate Highways," though a lack of |
| with equivalent ease, though such widespread | | | | funding prevented progress on the |
| road accessibility has not always been the | | | | construction of an interstate highway system |
| case. Road building is not by any means a new | | | | until several years later when President |
| phenomenon, and can be traced back thousands | | | | Dwight Eisenhower approved the Federal Aid |
| of years. But the modern techniques and | | | | Highway Act of 1956. With federal funding |
| materials used in road construction today | | | | finally in place to back the plan, |
| have given us safer, more durable roadways | | | | construction began on the vast system of |
| capable of enduring increasing traffic and | | | | interstates that now connects major cities |
| lasting years longer than roads of the past. | | | | throughout the country and gives Americans |
| | | | access to modern roadways for both long and |
| Primitive road building relied mostly on | | | | short commutes. |
| conglomerates of gravel and sand. When | | | | |
| commercially available automobiles were | | | | Residents of the United States are all |
| introduced and began to experience increasing | | | | affected in some way by the intricate system |
| popularity, shortfalls of the few roads that | | | | of roadways that now exists throughout the |
| existed became apparent. Dirt roads | | | | nation, either directly as travelers or |
| throughout America soon proved inadequate for | | | | indirectly through the use of products which |
| even the bicycle and wagon travel of the | | | | are transported thousands of miles along U.S. |
| time. Booming popularity of Henry Ford's | | | | roads and interstates to reach consumers. |
| Model T in the early 1900s spurred federal | | | | Road construction and the automobile industry |
| involvement in road development. A series of | | | | have significantly influenced one another as |
| legislative acts throughout the years | | | | they have both risen to unprecedented |
| following facilitated the construction of | | | | importance to the culture, lifestyle and |
| new, asphalt paved roads that would expand | | | | commerce of America today. |