The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on June 29, 1956. Known as the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act, it was the largest public works project in American history at that time, and authorized $25 billion for the construction of 41,000 miles of interstate highway over 10 years.
In 1815, on of our founder's James Madison argued that the congress did not have constitutional authority to build roads and canals. Nevertheless, congress continued to authorize funds to build roads and canals. Finally in 1907, the U.S. Supreme court ruled in the Wilson v. Shaw case that Congress had the power to "construct interstate highways' under it's constitutional right to regulate interstate commerce. Several years later, Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Aid Road Act which appropriated $75 million for improvement of post roads. Additional bills were passed in 1921, and 1944, but they failed in comparison to the $25 billion that Eisenhower asked congress to authorize in 1955 and again in 1956.
In 1956, President Eisenhower saw this spending as an urgent need and it linked the bill directly to the national security of the American people. In 1955, there were over 38,000 deaths attributed to highway accidents. This was not something Eisenhower said could be left to the states or to private enterprises. The project was too big and had to be authorized as one project to be completed within a specified time. This was a project, only the federal government could take on. So with this in mind, President Eisenhower urged congress in his 1956 state of the union address to give their support to the federal Aid Highway program.
"If we are ever to solve our mounting traffic problem, the whole interstate system must be authorized as one project, to be completed approximately within the specified time. Only in this way can industry efficiently gear itself to the job ahead. Only in this way can the required planning and engineering be accomplished without the confusion and waste unavoidable a piecemeal approach. Furthermore, as I pointed out last year, the pressing nature of this problem must not lead us to solutions outside the bounds of sound fiscal management. As in the case of other pressing problems, there must be an adequate plan of financing. To continue the drastically needed improvement in other national highway systems, I recommend the continuation of the Federal Aid Highway Program."
References
Presidency.ucsb.edu. (2018). Dwight D. Eisenhower: Annual Message to the Congress on the State of the Union.. [online] Available at: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=10593 [Accessed 2 Jan. 2018].Act, P. (2018). President Woodrow Wilson signs Federal Aid Road Act - Jul 11, 1916 - HISTORY.com. [online] HISTORY.com. Available at: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/president-woodrow-wilson-signs-federal-aid-road-act [Accessed 2 Jan. 2018].
En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Aid_Highway_Act_of_1956 [Accessed 2 Jan. 2018].
En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Federal Aid Road Act of 1916. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Aid_Road_Act_of_1916 [Accessed 2 Jan. 2018].
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