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At 60, America's Interstate Highway System Is Showing Signs Of Age

Traffic makes its way along Interstate 80 on July 1, 2015 in Berkeley, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Traffic makes its way along Interstate 80 on July 1, 2015 in Berkeley, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Sixty years ago today, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Federal Highway Act of 1956. It marked the birth of the interstate highway system, now a 47,000-mile network designed to ease crowded, crumbling roads in post-war America.

At the time, it was sold as one of the most ambitious public works projects ever, but six decades later, many interstates are overcrowded and under maintained. Here & Now‘s Jeremy Hobson speaks with William Wilkins of The Road Information Program.

— Here & Now (@hereandnow) June 29, 2016

Guest

William Wilkins, executive director of The National Road Information Program (TRIP), a transportation research group. The organization tweets @TRIP_Inc.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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Federal funding is gone.

Congress has eliminated all funding for public media.

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The future of public media is in your hands.

All donations are appreciated, but we ask in this moment you consider starting a monthly gift as a Sustainer to help replace what’s been lost.