Interstate Highway System turns 60 years old, it faces increasing congestion, unprecedented levels of travel --particularly by large trucks--and insufficient funding to make needed repairs and improvements.
The major exception to this rule was the
Interstate Highway System.
That includes rough stretches of Interstate 40 at Russellville and the White River; a stretch of Interstate 30 at Malvern; and Interstate 530 from Pine Bluff to Little Rock, which wasn't eligible for rehab work the first go-round because it wasn't designated an
Interstate highway at the time.
If you think of the
Interstate Highway System as a concrete belt, it is currently long enough to wrap around the equator--twice.
Taking care of those nearly 47,000 miles of
interstate highways are the state transportation departments across the US, all of which are members of AASHTO.
Eventually lawmakers passed legislation to build 41,000 miles (later increased to 46,773) of
interstate highways. The federal government would pay 90 percent of construction costs using dedicated gas taxes and user fees.
The panel considered raising the speed limit for cars from 65 to 70; for trucks from 55 to 60 and for cars on sections of "urban
interstate highways" - such as the Eugene-Springfield portion of Interstate 5 - from 55 to 60.
Under that law, state and local agencies can apply tolls to
interstate highways only if they qualify as a pilot project under the Federal Highway Administration's Value Pricing Pilot Program, which was created to provide funding for innovative pilot programs (lasting three or fewer years) to reduce highway congestion.
So, you think you might complete the rehabilitation of 380 miles (612 kilometers) or 60 percent of your state's
interstate highways in five years?
In his book 1939: The Lost World of the Fair, David Gelernter argues that the General Motors (GM) Futurama exhibit, which took fair-goers through the imagined world of 1960, complete with a 14-lane Express Motorway that would crisscross the nation at 100 miles per hour, was wildly popular precisely because of the freedom and mobility the
interstate highways promised.
In the two initial incidents, a Tri-State trailer overturned on an
interstate highway. Both
interstate highways were blocked for safety purposes and immediate neighborhoods were evacuated.
A lack of pretension is part of what enables well-regarded and prolific novelist Larry McMurtry to travel America's
interstate highways with pleasure.
