Web Site Marks
Interstate System Anniversary
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - The
American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials
has launched a Web site to mark next year's 50th anniversary of
the interstate highway system. The Web site address is www.interstate50th.org.
June 26, 2006, is the 50th
anniversary of the date President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed
the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956. This legislation created
the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways and is
credited with creating the modern U.S. interstate highway system.
The Web site is part of
AASHTO's year-long observance of the interstate highway system's
anniversary and its significance in unifying the nation and providing
mobility to its citizens.
Missouri, which has more
than 1,100 miles of interstate, will join in the celebration.
Tentative plans call for a celebration at the site of one of
the nation's first interstate projects, located at Interstate
70 and Fifth Street in St. Charles. Educational outreach activities
and public forums to discuss the future of the Show Me State's
interstate system are also in the works.
"The interstate highway
system has transformed the way we live, work and play," said Pete
Rahn, director of the Missouri Department of Transportation, which
is helping to arrange Missouri's interstate anniversary celebration.
"It touches all of us in some way, whether it's getting from
one location to another or having access to goods that are shipped
nationwide.
"Unfortunately, age and
congestion are taking their toll on our interstates. The 50
th anniversary celebration will provide a forum for further discussion
of what it's going to take to improve our interstate system."
The Web site will expand
over the next 20 months to serve as a clearinghouse of interstate
anniversary activities in the states. Users will be able to view
the history of the interstate system, learn facts about the system,
contribute personal interstate stories and view the stories of
interstate pioneers and unique engineering feats of the 47,000-mile
network.
Next summer, the site will feature a daily report of a cross-country
convoy retracing the route of the two-month 1919 military convoy
in which then Lt. Col. Dwight David Eisenhower traveled from Washington,
D.C., to San Francisco.
