Before the Interstate Highway System

The Interstate Highway System is the largest public works project in history and often lauded as one of Dwight D. Eisenhower’s major achievements. It is crucial to our country’s transportation needs, about one-third of all miles driven in the U.S. use the Interstate system. Today, the transportation debate focuses on updating our rail network and fixing the crumbling roads and bridges so that we can put Americans back to work.

As we continue to ponder how this country will move forward, it is interesting to look back on our past and see just how far we’ve come. Here is a map of the US's (pre-interstate) transcontinental transportation network in 1918, color coded by individual “auto-trails”

This map is from the American Automobiles Association and shows what our cross-country road infrastructure looked like before our massive investment in the Interstate Highway System. It depicts the main auto trails of the day. The auto trail system was an informal network of marked routes that existed in the United States and Canada in the early part of the 20th century. Marked with colored bands on telephone poles, the trails were intended to help travelers in the early days of the automobile. Our transportation network has sure come a long way since then.

What will our map look like a hundred years from now?

Posted in: Alex Felts,transit