ON THIS DAY IN UNITED STATES HISTORY
June 29, 1956
The Federal Aid Highway Act is Signed
On this day in 1956, the Federal Aid Highway Act was signed by Dwight D. Eisenhower authorizing 25 billion
dollars to build an Interstate Highway System. Eisenhower's support for this act was a result of his experiences in
1919 when he participated in the U.S. Army's first Transcontinental Motor Convoy across the United States. The
experience pointed out the inadequacies of the existing highway system especially when compared to what he had seen
with the German Autobahn network during World War II.
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