A section of Interstate 95 in Virginia that shows features of the Interstate System that the committee recommended: limited access, wide lanes, shoulders, and divided traffic. The National System of Interstate and Defense Highways: Status of Improvement as of March 31, 1971. Washington: GPO, 1971. View Source.

Advisory Committee on a National Highway Program

In September 1954, the President appointed an Advisory Committee on a National Highway Program headed by Lucius Clay, a retired four-star general. The Committee recommended an ambitious 10-year, $100 billion federal road program. The new highways would increase safety and alleviate traffic congestion. They would also make it easier to evacuate cities during atomic attacks, which was an important priority during the Cold War with the Soviet Union.

On August 2, 1956, the Missouri State Highway Commission awarded the first construction contract under the new Federal-Aid Highway Act. The contract was for improving Route 66 into Interstate 44 in Laclede County between Springfield and Rolla. Missouri also became the first state to initiate construction under a federal contract. Photo courtesy Missouri Department of Transportation.

Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956

President Eisenhower won bipartisan support for his highway program. He signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 on June 29 at his bedside in Walter Reed Army Hospital while recovering from an illness. The Act established federal funding for a 41,000 mile Interstate Highway System to be built by each state.