A Georgian Helped Build The Interstates

Next year (2006) will be the 50th anniversary of the Eisenhower Interstate System, launched by the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956.

“A Georgia native, General Lucius D. Clay of Marietta, is credited with being the principal architect of the system. In 1954 President Eisenhower appointed Clay, who had managed the Berlin Airlift and presided over the rebuilding of Germany after World War II, to chair a committee charged with mapping out a national interstate highway system. Clay's leadership brought Interstates 75, 85, and 20 through Atlanta, cementing the city's destiny as a transportation hub.” [1]

The interstates as we know them were inspired by Germany’s autobahns, originally built during Adolf Hitler’s 12-year reign over Germany.

After World War II, Eisenhower was so impressed by these autobahns, he began to think about a similar system for the U.S. When he was elected President in 1952, he was able to take his dream and work toward making it a reality with the help of General Clay.

Today, because of their visions, we have the world’s largest network of national superhighways totaling “46,726 miles as of 2003” [1] (approximately 74,762 km). Germany, the birthplace of the modern superhighway, ranks a distant second with a total of “11,712 km in 2001” [2] (approximately 7292 miles).

To learn more about Georgia’s interstates and Germany’s autobahns, please click on the hyperlinks for each of the footnotes below:

1 - John D. Toon, Georgia Institute of Technology, “The New Georgia Encyclopedia – Transportation – Interstate Highway System”, 2004.

2 – Brian K. Purcell, “The Texas Highwayman: Driving In Germany – The Autobahn”, 2002.

That’s all for now. Thanks for visiting and please come back soon.