Interstate Highway System
The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, or the Eisenhower Interstate System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. The system extends throughout the contiguous United States and has routes in Hawaii, Alaska, and Puerto Rico.
I‑55 under construction in Mississippi in May 1972
Commemorative sign introduced in 1993. The system was established during Dwight D. Eisenhower's presidency, and the five stars commemorate his rank as General of the Army during World War II.
The fervor of urban renewal led to the routing of Interstate 81 through the middle of Syracuse's 15th Ward in the 1960s. The viaduct is now slated for demolition.
I-95 in Columbia, Maryland, built to modern standards.
United States Numbered Highway System
The United States Numbered Highway System is an integrated network of roads and highways numbered within a nationwide grid in the contiguous United States. As the designation and numbering of these highways were coordinated among the states, they are sometimes called Federal Highways, but the roadways were built and have always been maintained by state or local governments since their initial designation in 1926.
The "final" U.S. Highway plan as approved November 11, 1926
This sign, photographed in 1941 on US 99 between Seattle, Washington, and Portland, Oregon, illustrates one rationale for a federal highway system: national defense.
