The United States Interstate Highway System changed the way the American family traveled, the way goods were transported, revitalized the national economy, and heightened the importance of the automobile in America.
The story starts in July of 1919 when then Lt. Col. Dwight D. Eisenhower joined the first Transcontinental Convoy that traveled from Washington, DC to San Francisco, California. One of Eisenhower's goals was to gauge the feasibility of transporting military troops and supplies cross-country. The trip was hardly a success and instead put the spotlight on the poor condition of the nation's roads. The 81-vehicle convoy completed the journey in 62 days at an average speed of 6 miles per hour over 3,251 miles of mostly unpaved roads.
Along the way, the procession stopped at Harvey Firestone's Columbiana, Ohio, farm where the tire mogul joined the convoy and added two trucks equipped with his inflatable, pneumatic tires to the motorcade. Eisenhower's crew rode mostly on rubber tires. "Not surprisingly, there were incredible mechanical breakdowns in the middle of nowhere, and the men got a good look at what worked and what didn't. At the end of the road, it's reported that Eisenhower was sold on Firestone's pneumatic tires," said Don Darden, Manager, Marketing Communications and Advertising at Bridgestone Firestone America.
Firestone, like Eisenhower realized the need for a transcontinental road system and joined organizations that promoted this idea like the "Good Roads Movement" and the "Ship by Truck" campaign, which encouraged manufacturers to use trucks to move goods throughout the country. "Throughout his life, Firestone was a champion of easy and quick travel from coast to coast," Darden said.Decades later, Eisenhower, then President, put his and Firestone's plans into play when he drafted and signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 on June 29th, 1956. Under this act, the federal government agreed to finance 90 percent of the construction costs of the new interstate system, largely paid for by gas taxes. The state governments were responsible for the remaining 10 percent of the starting cost and the system's upkeep expenditures.
According to a speech made to Congress on February 22, 1955, President Eisenhower believed that the success of this country depended upon uniting the forces of transportation and communication. "Our unity as a nation is sustained by free communication of thought and by easy transportation of people and goods. The ceaseless flow of information throughout the Republic is matched by individual and commercial movement over a vast system of interconnected highways crisscrossing the Country and joining at our national borders with friendly neighbors to the north and south," President Eisenhower said.
The U.S.' population was growing at an alarming rate, but had no reliable transportation infrastructure to support and cultivate the boom. According to AASHTO, there were 27 million registered vehicles in the U.S. in 1935. By 1956, that number grew to 65 million. This ever-expanding nation demanded an interstate network of roads that would allow it and the automobile industry to grow and prosper.
Fifty years later, AASHTO is launching a 14-day, 13-state, road trip that pays homage to the original 1919 journey that set the ideas for an interstate highway into motion. On June 14th, the motor train will depart from San Francisco, California, and follow the original Lincoln Highway route, now U.S. 30 and I-80, to Washington, DC.Military vehicles, 18-wheelers, busses, cars, and tow trucks will stop at 16 cities a along the way. "Just like in 1919 when Firestone added two trucks in the Transcontinental Motor Train, Firestone is participating in the convoy reenactment with two tractor-trailers," Darden said.
Harvey Firestone's great grandson, Andrew Firestone, will act as the Convoy Launch Master in San Francisco on June 14th. From there, the motorcade travels to events at museums like the National Automotive Museum in Reno, Nevada; the Union Pacific Transportation Museum in Cheyenne, Wyoming; the Dwight D. Eisenhower Museum and Library in Abilene, Kansas; the Truck Museum housed in the country's largest truck stop in Walcott, Iowa; and the Studebaker Museum in South Bend, Indiana.
Stops at the National Test Road site in Ottawa, Illinois; Firestone's headquarters in Akron, Ohio, and Eisenhower's country home in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania are also planned along the route.
While the modern-day coast-to-coast reenactment convoy only plans to travel a little over 3000 miles through 13 states, the spry 50-year old interstate system is made up of over 46,500 miles of connecting highway. It brought, and continues to bring, the freedom of the open road to all 50 United State
