They're Changing the Face of America
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A fantastic network
of superhighways will
build up towns, decentralize cities,
and help the whole country
get better acquainted.
by Howard Earle
Across its entire length and breadth,
the face of America is being
changed to the tune of more than
$51 billion! And it's happening in a
way that will affect you, your family,
and your community.
Whether you live in a large city or
small town, chances are you will
awaken one morning to find your
whole mode of living altered.
To illustrate what's happening, one
day recently I entered the Indiana
Turnpike just outside Chicago, and
13 hours and no stoplights later I was
in New York City. I had traveled
across Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania,
and New Jersey without leaving a
four-lane concrete highway with op
posing traffic separated by a 10-foot
parkway. Excellent restaurants and
service stations were conveniently
spaced along the way. From New
York I sped along expressways of the
same type, or improved, through the
New England states to Maine.
Last Summer I sat on the porch of
a friend's home in upper New York
State and listened to the roar of
heavy road machinery and dynamit
ing of rocks as workers cut the road
bed of a new thruway diagonally
across my friend's property. When
finished, this superhighway will con
nect the Canadian border with the
New York State Thruway from New
York City to Buffalo.
Throughout the country similar
networks of superhighways are lacing
the landscape, making it easier and
safer for motorists to reach distant
destinations more quickly.
Chicago currently is building a
mammoth network of eight-lane
expressways. One -will connect the
Loop with a superhighway extending
across Illinois to Iowa. Another will
link the Loop to the Indiana Turn
pike. A third will connect with a
superhighway to Wisconsin.
In Cincinnati, the eight-lane Mill
creek Expressway is slicing through
the city. In Maryland, engineers plan
a new Baltimore-Washington route.
Farther west, in Denver, Salt Lake
City, and Los Angeles, as well as
north and south of this line, new
superhighways are under construc
tion or plans have been approved.
This nation-wide road-building ac
tivity springs from a $51-billion
superhighway project authorized by
Congress in 1956. The chief feature
of the program is a 41,000-mile net
work of toll-free interstate high
ways which will link 42 of the 49
state capitals and 90 percent of the
cities with more than 50,000 popula
tion. The Federal government is foot
ing 90 percent of the cost of this
project, and the states are furnishing
the rest.
Another chunk of that $51 billion
will be spent on primary, secondary,
and urban roads, financed by the
Federal and state governments on a
50-50 basis. That same Federal kitty
will finance new roads in our national
forests and parks and on public lands.
The new interstate superhighways
will make the ancient Roman roads
look like ribbons of dust. The toll
free 41,000 miles of concrete will be
free of stoplights and dangerous inter
sections, with grade separations re
placing crossroads. The new routes
will have four or more traffic lanes,
each at least 12 feet wide, and in non
urban areas, median strips will sep
arate opposing traffic lanes. The shoul
ders along the roads will be about 10
feet wide, and access to the highways
will be by modern cloverleafs.
These highways will work vast
changes in your life and that of your
community. The overall effect will be
revolutionary, thinks Gerald W. Col
lins, manager of the transportation
and communications department of
the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
"There is hardly a city, village, or
mile of highway that will not be in
volved," Collins says. "Present traffic
patterns will be altered; new areas
will be opened for business; motor
vehicle transportation in all forms
will assume greater utility, conveni
ence, and safety."
Communities may find new indus
tries springing up in their midst.
Industrial and business expansion
most likely will follow good highways
for the transportation of their prod
ucts. Those communities near the
superhighways may find decentraliza
tion of industry bringing new life to
them through the construction of new
plants, offices, and factories.
Relocation of businesses to areas
adjacent to the superhighways could
mushroom communities where today
there are only pastoral scenes. Sub
urban America could easily take on
a new look, with adverse effects on
some existing communities. But many
more communities will enjoy a popu
lation and business increase through
an influx of new residents.
The superhighways are destined to
ease or eliminate many commuting
problems. It will be less of a problem
to jump into the family car and drive
50 or 60 miles to work on these super
highways than it is to drive 10 or 15
miles in congested city traffic today.
The big-city dweller will find it easier
to move to a small community along
the new roads.
The savings to motorists driving on
the superhighways as compared
with city streets or conventional roads
is estimated at between three and five
cents a mile. Much of the saving
comes from the elimination of stop-and-start
driving which consumes
considerably more gasoline per mile.
Straight-away driving also saves wear
and tear on mechanical parts of the
car affected by sudden stopping and
starting.
Many experts believe these ultra
modern highways reduce traffic fatali
ties because of the elimination of stop
lights, crossroads, and other hazards
found in city driving or on ordinary
highways. Reduced accidents could
mean a substantial savings on your
automobile insurance if the reduction
on a nation-wide basis is sufficient to
lower policy premiums.
Time saved on the superhighways is
of inestimable value. The new roads
will allow for speeds up to 70 miles an
hour in flat country and 50 miles an
hour in mountainous and urban areas.
A survey in New England showed
that on 150 miles of conventional
highways, traveling through commu
nities and cities, 305 stops were made.
Traveling the same distance over
much the same territory on a new
superhighway, no stops were made.
Time consumed in covering the dis
tance on the conventional highway
was slightly less than six hours as
compared with three hours on the
superhighway. Speed on the super
highway averaged 50 miles an hour
and on the conventional road 20 mph.
Additional advantages of the super
highways are tension-free driving and
picturesque scenery. Many nerves are
frayed by conventional highway driv
ing. Tensions rise and some motorists
border on nervous collapse by the end
of a tedious trip on crowded roads
with bumper-to-bumper driving amid
shrieking horns and policemen's whis
tles, screeching brakes, and the odor
of burning rubber.
And now modern high-speed, low
slung cars, with their potential power
that once was dangerous, will be es
pecially adaptable to the superhigh
ways. Forthcoming models may be
developed to the degree that they will
literally have all the comforts of home.
But travel about the country will be
one of the greater advantages of the
superhighways. Where you want to
spend your vacation will be deter
mined by the time you want to spend
in traveling. The new superhighways
will bring almost any spot in the
country close enough for a family
vacation, provided you don't mind a
few days' driving to reach the play
land most appealing to you.
Even the usual Saturday and Sun
day week ends now can encompass the
vacation spots you thought too distant
before the advent of the superhigh
way. Visiting friends two or three
states away will be almost as simple as
going across town for dinner.
The new superhighways will change
the face of the land in many, many
ways. They also will change the living
habits of the family. Stay-at-homes
will become rare indeed in this age of
travel across countries and continents.
14
Family WeMy, March 1, 1959