Since the 1956 Highway Bill, It's Been 50 Years On a Fast Track
Most state highways in the 1940's were two lanes. Only a handful of divided highways existed. Highway death rates were more than four times higher on a per mile traveled basis than today. Certain states with heavier traffic volumes overcame weak state and federal funding by building toll roads. The first U.S. toll road was the Pennsylvania Turnpike, which opened in 1940, followed in the post-war years by others in Illinois, Ohio, New Jersey, Indiana and Massachusetts. These four or six-lane divided highways, with limited access, flatter curves, and lower grades were thoroughbreds by comparison. Many of their design features were inspired by Germany's Autobahn, which was constructed in the 1930s.
There was little advocacy for an interstate highway system during President Truman's tenure. Economic recovery, the national housing shortage, the emergence of the Cold War, and the Korean War (1950-53) all took precedence.