del
Diamond Member
- Banned
- #21
Actually he created the system because in the 40's as an Army Officer he traveled in a convoy from the east Coast to the West Coast and it took something like 34 days. He learned we needed a system to allow land travel across the Country. And he tied it to National Defense. For every 3 mile stretch when original built a requirement was that one mile be a straightaway with no over passes. This was so that the Interstate could act as an emergency Airfield in case of war.
um, in the 40's he was kinda tied up in europe.
you know, ww2, the big one?
he went cross country in the late teens or twenties.
We did not enter WW2 until 1941 December 7. And we had little troop presence until late 42.
and ike still didn't go cross country in the 40's einstein.
When Lieutenant Colonel Eisenhower (this was a temporary wartime gradehe was normally a Captain) heard about the plan, he and a buddy, Major Sereno Brett, thought it would be fun. They agreed to go along to observe operation of the one tank that was going to transported across country. Because the two friends decided to participate so late, they missed the opening ceremony that took place on July 9, 1919, on the Ellipse, which is a big patch of ground just south of the White House. They joined the convoy in Frederick, Maryland, later that day in the campground where the convoy rested.
The convoy headed to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where it met the Lincoln Highway and turned west for San Francisco. Despite the fame of the Lincoln Highway, one of the most important people in the convoy was a scout who drove ahead each day to find the road and mark it so the military vehicles wouldnt get lost.
Staying on the Lincoln Highway was only one problem. The major problems were:
* The roadsMost of the roads werent paved, so they were dusty in dry weather and muddy when it rained. Vehicles slipped off the roads into ditches, were blown off cliffs, and, at one spot in Nevada, got stuck in sand. The soldiers on the convoy experienced every misery of early road travel and then some since they had to drag heavy trucks out of the mud and muck and sand.
* The bridgesMany bridges were just barely able to carry cars. The heavy military trucks crashed through them. The Army had to strengthen many bridges or build new ones at some locations. In some cases, the best choice was to ford rivers (drive through the water where it is low enough to do so).
* The vehiclesOn a trip of more than 3,000 miles, you might expect a few flats. That was the least of the convoys troubles. The bad roads were tough on tires, axles, motors, and any thing that could be shaken off as the vehicles rumbled over the bumps in the road. Mechanics, who had been trained to repair horse-drawn wagons, were kept busy learning about a new type of vehicle.
* The speechesEvery town the convoy reached wanted to welcome the soldiers with a ceremony. Residents from miles around turned out to see the huge military convoy since nothing like it had ever been assembled in the United States. (It was like the circus coming to town.) And then the speeches began, with the Mayor welcoming the convoy, the commander of the convoy thanking the Mayor and citizens, and the convoys good roads speaker giving his presentation. The soldiers quickly became real tired of speeches.
Sixty-two days after leaving Washington, the convoy reached San Francisco on September 5, crossed San Francisco Bay on two ferries, then paraded through that city to Lincoln Park. Everyone received a medaland listened to more speeches before being dismissed. (Today, a cross-country trip on the Interstate System takes about 5 days.)
Why President Dwight D. Eisenhower Understood We Needed the Interstate System