Interstate 50th Anniversary Web Sites
State Transportation Departments
Many State transportation departments have updated their Web sites to include 50th anniversary information. These include:
Other State transportation departments will undoubtedly initiate Interstate 50th Web sites in 2006. You will find links to the State transportation departments on the AASHTO site and here at:
FHWA Web sites
FHWA’s The FHWA's Office of Program Administration maintains an Interstate page at: :
The page includes a link to the Interstate Route Log and Finder List, which can be accessed at:
The FHWA’s Highway History page contains information on the history of the Interstate System as well as other roads and the evolution of transportation:
The Highway History page also includes a Links feature that provides connections to other Web sites on highway history topics:
The Converge Web site, sponsored by the Center for Transportation and the Environment (North Carolina State University) and the FHWA, contains an extensive Timeline that will help put the Interstate System in the context of other transportation developments (select "Travel Through Time"):
The FHWA has been exploring the economic impact of Interstate highways. Initial results, along with links to related resources, can be found at:
About the Interstate System
The AboutVia Web site contains links to many other sites, including several on the Interstate System as well as highway development in individual States:
Several Web sites are devoted to the Interstate System:
About the Interstate System
State by State
Many Web sites focus on individual States or regions. The following links constitute a sample of such sites, but they contain additional links to other State or general sites containing information about the Interstate System:
The Yellow Book
One Web site contains information about the “Yellow Book,” the influential 1955 publication by the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads that contains maps showing the general routing of urban Interstates. The formal title was General Location of National System of Interstate Highways Including All Additional Routes at Urban Areas Designated in September 1955 (referred to as the “Yellow Book” because of the color of its cover):
A related Web site can be found at:
Interstate Exit Guides
A number of Interstate sites focus on exit guides. Many can be found at "Coast to Coast Interstate Links":
Additional exit guides can be found at:
Return on Interstate Investment
In 1996, the American Highway Users Alliance sponsored a report by Wendell Cox and Jean Love on the benefits of the Interstate System. The Best Investment a Nation Ever Made: A Tribute to the Dwight D. Eisenhower System of Interstate and Defense Highways is now available at:
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum on American History features a permanent Transportation Hall called “America on the Move.” It contains exhibits on the evolution of transportation in the United States.
The exhibit Web site includes a link to an informative “America on the Move” site:
The Lincoln Highway
One of the pivotal events in President Eisenhower's early years in the U.S. Army was his participation in the Army’s first transcontinental motor vehicle convoy across the country. The vehicles left Washington, DC, on July 7, 1919, drove to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, turned west onto the Lincoln Highway, and remained on the named route the rest of the way to San Francisco—where, that is, scouts could find the highway. The convoy reached the West Coast on September 6. For information on the Lincoln Highway, check the Web site of the Lincoln Highway Association:
Dwight D. Eisenhower
The Dwight D. Eisenhower Library in Abilene, Kansas, has extensive files, oral history, photographs, and other information on the “Father of the Interstate System”:
The Library includes a site on the Eisenhower Interstate System:
Media Coverage
Newspapers and magazines will be covering the Interstate 50th Anniversary. In Virginia, The Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star contained the following series about I-95 and its effect on the Fredericksburg area:
