On June 29, 1956, President Dwight Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, leading to the creation of America’s Interstate Highway System. Finished 35 years later, one-quarter of all vehicle miles driven in the United States use the interstate system. As would be expected, the most direct effect of the interstate was on other players in the transportation industry—rail in particular. Passenger rail traffic fell by more than half in the years that followed and trucking went on to be the dominant form of freight, growing 40X to become four times the size of the railways.
The impact of the Interstate Highway System reverberated far beyond just the transportation industry.
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