The nation's revenue needs associated with World War I prevented any significant implementation of this policy, which expired in 1921.

The United States government's efforts to construct a national network of highways began on an ad hoc basis with the passage of the Federal Aid Road Act of 1916, which provided $75 million over a five-year period for matching funds to the states for the construction and improvement of highways. Though federal legislation initially banned the collection of tolls, some Interstate routes are toll roads, either because they were grandfathered into the system or because subsequent legislation has allowed for tolling of Interstates in some cases.Īs of 2020, about one-quarter of all vehicle miles driven in the country used the Interstate Highway System, which had a total length of 48,756 miles (78,465 km). The Interstate Highway System is partially financed through the Highway Trust Fund, which itself is funded by a federal fuel tax. Interstate Highways use a numbering scheme in which primary Interstates are assigned one- or two-digit numbers, and shorter routes which branch off of longer ones are assigned three-digit numbers where the last two digits match the parent route. All Interstates must meet specific standards, such as having controlled access, physical barriers or median strips between lanes of oncoming traffic, breakdown lanes, avoiding at-grade intersections, no traffic lights and complying with federal traffic sign specifications. Though much of their construction was funded by the federal government, Interstate Highways are owned by the state in which they were built. The system has continued to expand and grow as additional federal funding has provided for new routes to be added, and the system will grow into the future. The cost of construction of the Interstate Highway System was approximately $114 billion (equivalent to $535 billion in 2020). Construction of the original Interstate Highway System was proclaimed complete in 1992, despite deviations from the original 1956 plan and several stretches that did not fully conform with federal standards. Especially in densely populated urban areas, these new freeways were often controversial as their building necessitated the destruction of many older, well-established neighborhoods as a result of the many freeway revolts during the 1960s and 1970s, several planned Interstates were abandoned or re-routed to avoid urban cores.

While some older freeways were adopted into the system, most of the routes were completely new construction, greatly expanding the freeway network in the U.S. Highway System, the Interstates were designed to be an all-freeway system, with nationally unified standards for construction and signage. Eisenhower became president in 1953, his administration developed a proposal for an interstate highway system, eventually resulting in the passage of the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956. Highways could be anything from a two-lane country road to a major multi-lane freeway. The roads were still state-funded and maintained, however, and there was little in the way of national standards for road design. In 1926, the United States Numbered Highway System was established, creating the first national road numbering system for cross-country travel. federal government first funded roadways through the Federal Aid Road Act of 1916, and began an effort to construct a national road grid with the passage of the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1921. The system extends throughout the contiguous United States and has routes in Hawaii, Alaska, and Puerto Rico. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States.

Open roads designer