Federal Highway Act of 1956

It has been 66 years since President Eisenhower signed the act that created the Interstate Highway System into law on June 29th, 1956.1 An amazing political ($$$) and engineering feat.

Interstate Highway Map

Eisenhower and the House Democrats agreed to finance the system through the Highway Trust Fund, which itself would be funded by a gasolinetax. In June 1956, Eisenhower signed the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 into law. Under the act, the federal government would pay for 90 percent of the cost of construction of Interstate Highways. Each Interstate Highway was required to be a freeway with at least four lanes and no at-grade crossings.


  1. see link ↩︎