1 00:00:00,380 --> 00:00:03,150 This video was made possible by CuriosityStream. 2 00:00:03,150 --> 00:00:09,900 Subscribe to their Nebula bundle deal at CuriosityStream.com/Wendover to watch an exclusive companion video to this. 3 00:00:09,900 --> 00:00:15,510 It’s really just four lanes, a median, and some on and off ramps. 4 00:00:15,510 --> 00:00:22,279 The Interstate Highway system is no engineering marvel, no unprecedented undertaking, no massively 5 00:00:22,279 --> 00:00:23,539 innovative concept. 6 00:00:23,539 --> 00:00:28,980 It’s a simple idea—one that arose since the earliest days of the automobile. 7 00:00:28,980 --> 00:00:34,470 It’s not exciting, which is why it often goes so under appreciated. 8 00:00:34,470 --> 00:00:39,060 Take the Interstates away, though, and you have a weaker nation. 9 00:00:39,060 --> 00:00:44,900 You have one with dramatically starker regional divides, one with increased decentralization—more 10 00:00:44,900 --> 00:00:50,970 specifically, you have a nation absent of a noticeable portion of the late 1900s economic 11 00:00:50,970 --> 00:00:53,600 development and transformation. 12 00:00:53,600 --> 00:00:59,260 These words, like the system itself, still aren’t exciting, but put more simply: if 13 00:00:59,260 --> 00:01:04,500 you are an American, regardless of whether you use the Interstate system, your life would 14 00:01:04,500 --> 00:01:08,679 be noticeably different in a reality without the Interstates. 15 00:01:08,679 --> 00:01:14,780 It’s a single collection of roadways, with an influence so great that it permeates into 16 00:01:14,780 --> 00:01:17,340 every American’s life. 17 00:01:17,340 --> 00:01:22,189 It all started here, 102 years ago. 18 00:01:22,189 --> 00:01:28,399 79 vehicles departed from the White House’s Ellipse at 11:15 AM on July 7th, 1919. 19 00:01:28,399 --> 00:01:32,509 They snaked through the District’s streets before crossing into Maryland and stopping 20 00:01:32,509 --> 00:01:35,380 for lunch in Rockville at 12:30 PM. 21 00:01:35,380 --> 00:01:39,840 The coupling on one of their kitchen trailers broke and a car’s fan belt too, but all 22 00:01:39,840 --> 00:01:46,200 in all, it was an uneventful 7 hour, 46 mile, 74 kilometer journey to the Frederick Fair 23 00:01:46,200 --> 00:01:47,200 Grounds. 24 00:01:47,200 --> 00:01:53,069 12 and a half hours later, they woke up, left, drove, arrived, and slept again. 25 00:01:53,069 --> 00:01:55,459 This cycle repeated itself. 26 00:01:55,459 --> 00:02:01,310 Day after day, they cut 40 or 50 or 60 miles deeper into their westward journey. 27 00:02:01,310 --> 00:02:04,499 The convoy climbed through the heights of the Appalachian mountains, trekked through 28 00:02:04,499 --> 00:02:11,090 the mud of Ohio, before crossing the Mississippi River at 4:10 PM on July 22nd. 29 00:02:11,090 --> 00:02:15,530 From there, they entered an area defined by desolation. 30 00:02:15,530 --> 00:02:20,990 Few dared venture west in a motor vehicle in 1919—always opting for the relative comfort 31 00:02:20,990 --> 00:02:23,670 and speed of passenger trains. 32 00:02:23,670 --> 00:02:28,600 This convoy, though, was making the journey specifically to determine just how difficult 33 00:02:28,600 --> 00:02:35,490 this feat was—to what extent such a journey was feasible for military logistics purposes. 34 00:02:35,490 --> 00:02:38,490 The answer came quickly. 35 00:02:38,490 --> 00:02:43,130 Despite routing themselves on the most developed transcontinental road of the time, the Lincoln 36 00:02:43,130 --> 00:02:47,740 Highway, they constantly had to divert around disrepair, physically disassemble covered 37 00:02:47,740 --> 00:02:52,570 bridges to get their trucks through, and fight physics on roads too narrow for an oncoming 38 00:02:52,570 --> 00:02:54,670 car to pass. 39 00:02:54,670 --> 00:03:00,490 Gas stations were few and far between, so such travel required truly expedition-level 40 00:03:00,490 --> 00:03:01,490 planning. 41 00:03:01,490 --> 00:03:05,410 Each time they entered a city, though, they were greeted by hoards of intrigued locals 42 00:03:05,410 --> 00:03:10,780 and dignitaries, but those crowds thinned as the convoy crawled further into the desolate 43 00:03:10,780 --> 00:03:11,780 west. 44 00:03:11,780 --> 00:03:17,100 Most, but certainly not all, of their vehicles successfully traversed the Rockies, and the 45 00:03:17,100 --> 00:03:21,230 same can be said for their trip across some of the Lincoln Highway’s roughest roads 46 00:03:21,230 --> 00:03:22,500 in Utah. 47 00:03:22,500 --> 00:03:27,610 With time, though, the trend reversed, roads improved, and they finally saw pavement again 48 00:03:27,610 --> 00:03:31,390 as the convoy entered California—its final state. 49 00:03:31,390 --> 00:03:36,560 After a final evening in Oakland, California, the vehicles loaded onto a ferry, crossed 50 00:03:36,560 --> 00:03:42,450 the bay, and made a ceremonious arrival in San Francisco accompanied by a massive parade 51 00:03:42,450 --> 00:03:43,910 and a formal dinner. 52 00:03:43,910 --> 00:03:52,530 That was September 6, 1919—62 days after their departure from the White House Ellipse. 53 00:03:52,530 --> 00:03:56,780 Having concentrated nearly all their waking hours on driving, the math works out to an 54 00:03:56,780 --> 00:04:02,810 average travel speed of just 5.65 miles or 9 kilometers per hour—a staggeringly slow 55 00:04:02,810 --> 00:04:07,720 pace on a road branded as a highway, in a year featuring technologies such as electric 56 00:04:07,720 --> 00:04:11,530 refrigerators, airplanes, and long-distance phone service. 57 00:04:11,530 --> 00:04:15,970 The convoy accomplished its mission of appraising the feasibility of this route for more practical 58 00:04:15,970 --> 00:04:21,140 military purposes, but the report back to Washington was not positive. 59 00:04:21,140 --> 00:04:26,430 One Lieutenant Colonel, tasked with observing the journey, wrote, “Extended trips by trucks 60 00:04:26,430 --> 00:04:31,180 through the middle western part of the United States are impractical until the roads are 61 00:04:31,180 --> 00:04:35,870 improved, and then only a light truck should be used on long hauls.” 62 00:04:35,870 --> 00:04:41,030 It was clear that, for now, until roads were improved, transcontinental motor vehicle trips 63 00:04:41,030 --> 00:04:44,930 would remain the domain of publicity stunts and enthusiasts. 64 00:04:44,930 --> 00:04:48,870 But then the years started passing. 65 00:04:48,870 --> 00:04:53,440 Administration after administration, observing the growing presence of motor vehicles in 66 00:04:53,440 --> 00:04:58,330 the lives of increasingly everyday Americans, recognized that road construction was not 67 00:04:58,330 --> 00:05:01,460 something that could be left the responsibility of states. 68 00:05:01,460 --> 00:05:06,230 While individual states did make plenty of progress building high quality urban and rural 69 00:05:06,230 --> 00:05:09,050 roads, their interests were insular. 70 00:05:09,050 --> 00:05:13,820 Iowa, for example, would have no interest building a highway with the primary purpose 71 00:05:13,820 --> 00:05:16,290 of connecting Illinois to Nebraska. 72 00:05:16,290 --> 00:05:20,380 As Americans went off to fight in Europe during World War Two, they observed the efficiency 73 00:05:20,380 --> 00:05:25,090 of Germany’s national Reichsautobahn highway system, but when they returned home, they 74 00:05:25,090 --> 00:05:29,780 were forced to navigate a patchwork of state systems of varying quality to get anywhere 75 00:05:29,780 --> 00:05:32,340 beyond their local areas. 76 00:05:32,340 --> 00:05:37,470 In the 1950s, when America was a mere decade out from landing men on the moon, it still 77 00:05:37,470 --> 00:05:42,990 took significant planning and the better part of 10 days to reasonably traverse from one 78 00:05:42,990 --> 00:05:44,470 coast to the other. 79 00:05:44,470 --> 00:05:48,990 While this might have been inconvenient for road-tripping Americans, it mostly meant that 80 00:05:48,990 --> 00:05:54,260 there were regions that simply could not compete with coastal areas in the industrial sector 81 00:05:54,260 --> 00:05:57,240 due to high transport costs and times. 82 00:05:57,240 --> 00:06:01,420 It was clear something had to change, but efforts to increase highway construction at 83 00:06:01,420 --> 00:06:07,340 the federal level were constantly stalled by funding issues and a general lack of volition. 84 00:06:07,340 --> 00:06:10,470 But then came someone new. 85 00:06:10,470 --> 00:06:15,700 One of the members of 1919 transcontinental convoy, in fact, the very Lieutenant Colonel 86 00:06:15,700 --> 00:06:20,760 who provided the earlier report on the journey to Washington, continued on in his military 87 00:06:20,760 --> 00:06:25,320 career, and rose through the ranks until he became Supreme Allied Commander of the European 88 00:06:25,320 --> 00:06:27,440 theatre in World War Two. 89 00:06:27,440 --> 00:06:33,070 Then, upon return to the US, he entered a political career, culminating with his inauguration 90 00:06:33,070 --> 00:06:37,590 as president on January 20, 1953. 91 00:06:37,590 --> 00:06:42,340 This was, of course, Dwight D Eisenhower. 92 00:06:42,340 --> 00:06:47,110 With the groundwork laid by decades of planning and false starts, Eisenhower’s task was 93 00:06:47,110 --> 00:06:52,720 centered on finally finding the political will and funding to turn this concept map, 94 00:06:52,720 --> 00:06:57,479 a 1955 publication by the Bureau of Public Roads, into reality. 95 00:06:57,479 --> 00:07:02,000 After nearly three years of political maneuvering, he succeeded. 96 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:10,100 On June 29th, the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 was signed—dedicating some $25 billion 97 00:07:10,100 --> 00:07:15,830 to constructing 41,000 miles or 66,000 kilometers of highway. 98 00:07:15,830 --> 00:07:20,580 Unlike previous attempts at similar programs, the federal government would now pay 90% of 99 00:07:20,580 --> 00:07:26,199 the costs of these Interstate highways, with individual states responsible for the rest—largely 100 00:07:26,199 --> 00:07:29,120 funded by a hike in the federal gas tax. 101 00:07:29,120 --> 00:07:33,430 Just three months after the bill’s signing, paving work began on a section of Interstate 102 00:07:33,430 --> 00:07:39,640 70 in Kansas, and two months after that, the same section opened to the public—representing 103 00:07:39,640 --> 00:07:45,010 the first miles of a system that would engulf the country over the coming decades. 104 00:07:45,010 --> 00:07:51,580 Now, whether it’s I-40 in Tennessee or I-90 through Idaho, the way these roads were built 105 00:07:51,580 --> 00:07:55,120 was highly, highly standardized. 106 00:07:55,120 --> 00:07:58,009 That was, after all, the point. 107 00:07:58,009 --> 00:08:03,090 These standards are codified in a simple eight page document entitled “A Policy on Design 108 00:08:03,090 --> 00:08:05,270 Standards—Interstate System.” 109 00:08:05,270 --> 00:08:11,160 To start with, fundamentally, Interstates must have controlled access—meaning, the 110 00:08:11,160 --> 00:08:15,850 manner in which vehicles enter or exit the roadway must be controlled through on and 111 00:08:15,850 --> 00:08:16,850 off ramps. 112 00:08:16,850 --> 00:08:21,490 That’s why, unlike with many state highways, you never see intersections with stoplights 113 00:08:21,490 --> 00:08:25,290 on Interstates, except when rules are violated. 114 00:08:25,290 --> 00:08:30,550 The standards also set out a minimum speed—50 miles or 80 kilometers per hour or in urban 115 00:08:30,550 --> 00:08:37,320 and mountainous areas, 70 miles or 110 kilometers per hour in rural areas—and maximum grade—up 116 00:08:37,320 --> 00:08:43,910 to 7%, corresponding to 370 feet of elevation gain per mile of road, or 70 meters per kilometer, 117 00:08:43,910 --> 00:08:46,290 depending on speed and topography. 118 00:08:46,290 --> 00:08:51,630 There must be at least two lanes in each direction of travel, 12 feet or 3.5 meters in width, 119 00:08:51,630 --> 00:08:56,530 with a cross slope—essentially, an angle to allow for rain run off—of at least 1.5% 120 00:08:56,530 --> 00:08:58,980 and ideally 2% grade. 121 00:08:58,980 --> 00:09:03,550 Tunnels and bridges must have at least 16 feet or 5 meters of vertical clearance, although 122 00:09:03,550 --> 00:09:08,399 less is allowed through urban areas as long as an alternate route with 16 foot clearance 123 00:09:08,399 --> 00:09:09,870 is available. 124 00:09:09,870 --> 00:09:15,070 Aside from a few smaller details, that’s the entirety of the Interstate highway design 125 00:09:15,070 --> 00:09:16,070 standards. 126 00:09:16,070 --> 00:09:18,160 It’s incredibly simple. 127 00:09:18,160 --> 00:09:23,080 Implementing this nationwide, however, was no simple endeavor. 128 00:09:23,080 --> 00:09:29,700 When the project started, in the 50’s, one mile of Interstate cost some $8.5 million 129 00:09:29,700 --> 00:09:35,680 to construct, or $5.3 million per kilometer, however, through the decades, as labor costs 130 00:09:35,680 --> 00:09:41,290 rose and the simplest sections stood completed, this ramped up to over $34 million per mile, 131 00:09:41,290 --> 00:09:43,960 or $21 million per kilometer. 132 00:09:43,960 --> 00:09:50,260 Unsurprisingly, the Interstate system quickly blew past its original $25 billon budget allocation, 133 00:09:50,260 --> 00:09:55,350 but people and governments were convinced—the project gained more and more funding, and 134 00:09:55,350 --> 00:10:00,080 was reaching completion by the time the 80s turned into the 90s. 135 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:07,360 To complete the original vision, just one last section remained: a 12.5 mile, 20 kilometer 136 00:10:07,360 --> 00:10:10,040 stretch through Glenwood Canyon, Colorado. 137 00:10:10,040 --> 00:10:14,600 With thousand foot walls flanking on each side, little room exists aside the Colorado 138 00:10:14,600 --> 00:10:19,380 River for a roadway, but a complex collection of bridges and tunnels were constructed at 139 00:10:19,380 --> 00:10:27,300 a cost of $960 million, inflation adjusted, corresponding to $75 million per mile or $47 140 00:10:27,300 --> 00:10:30,070 million per kilometer of roadway. 141 00:10:30,070 --> 00:10:35,260 Once this engineering marvel was completed in 1992, however, the nation was connected, 142 00:10:35,260 --> 00:10:40,870 and more than two decades after his death, Eisenhower’s vision was realized. 143 00:10:40,870 --> 00:10:49,820 His 62-day transcontinental expedition from 1919 now takes a mere 42 hours. 144 00:10:49,820 --> 00:10:54,570 In such a decentralized country, consisting of a patchwork of states each with unique 145 00:10:54,570 --> 00:11:00,490 governments, laws, cultures, and more, the consistency of a nationwide, federal transportation 146 00:11:00,490 --> 00:11:03,270 system is, in and of itself, unique. 147 00:11:03,270 --> 00:11:08,100 It is one of the most regular interactions Americans, especially in far-flung western 148 00:11:08,100 --> 00:11:12,090 and southern regions, might have with a federal program. 149 00:11:12,090 --> 00:11:18,450 Today, the largest urban center located further than 25 miles or 40 kilometers from an Interstate 150 00:11:18,450 --> 00:11:23,220 highway is Fresno, California, with a population of about half a million. 151 00:11:23,220 --> 00:11:30,600 In fact, only 14 cities with over 100,000 people are located further than this distance. 152 00:11:30,600 --> 00:11:35,420 Even Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico are now included in this program, despite the fact 153 00:11:35,420 --> 00:11:39,310 that their Interstates don’t actually extend Interstate. 154 00:11:39,310 --> 00:11:45,870 With wide lanes, smooth turns, consistent grades, and more, these highways are remarkably 155 00:11:45,870 --> 00:11:46,870 safe. 156 00:11:46,870 --> 00:11:52,600 While nationwide the US averages 1.3 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles travelled, Interstates, 157 00:11:52,600 --> 00:11:59,410 for the same 100 million vehicle miles, observe just 0.55 deaths each year. 158 00:11:59,410 --> 00:12:05,050 Incredibly, that means that, assuming the alternative is equivalent travel on non-Interstate 159 00:12:05,050 --> 00:12:11,550 roads, this system is responsible for saving about 6,500 lives per year. 160 00:12:11,550 --> 00:12:16,670 Beyond the moral component—the innate human desire to preserve life—the US Department 161 00:12:16,670 --> 00:12:22,170 of Transportation, on a statistical basis, values a human life at $11.7 million dollars 162 00:12:22,170 --> 00:12:26,611 when evaluating potential safety standards, so the safety profile of the Interstate Highway 163 00:12:26,611 --> 00:12:33,000 system by itself has a theoretical economic impact of about $75 billion per year—therefore 164 00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:36,310 easily justifying its cost alone. 165 00:12:36,310 --> 00:12:39,040 But then there’s the more direct impacts. 166 00:12:39,040 --> 00:12:43,110 Among the more populated states, construction disproportionately took place in southern 167 00:12:43,110 --> 00:12:48,330 states such as Georgia, South Carolina, or Arkansas on a basis of miles constructed per 168 00:12:48,330 --> 00:12:49,330 capita. 169 00:12:49,330 --> 00:12:54,300 Then, in less populous states, the Interstate disproportionately penetrated the American 170 00:12:54,300 --> 00:13:00,140 west, with states such as Utah, Montana, Nevada, and Wyoming receiving the most miles per capita. 171 00:13:00,140 --> 00:13:05,390 Therefore, it was the South and West that received the greatest impact. 172 00:13:05,390 --> 00:13:11,120 In essence, what these roadways did was connect the US’ economic centers to the periphery, 173 00:13:11,120 --> 00:13:15,870 so the periphery had the most to gain by, effectively, reducing the relative distance 174 00:13:15,870 --> 00:13:19,410 to centers by a factor of 30%, on average. 175 00:13:19,410 --> 00:13:24,260 In the case of Interstate 5, for example, which runs along the entire west coast from 176 00:13:24,260 --> 00:13:29,029 the border to Mexico to that with Canada, California, the state that encompasses the 177 00:13:29,029 --> 00:13:33,339 majority of its distance, actually sees the smallest benefit. 178 00:13:33,339 --> 00:13:37,899 That’s not to say that benefit is small—the removal of the Interstate would correspond 179 00:13:37,899 --> 00:13:44,079 to a 6% loss in overall income in the state—but Oregon, the 12th most sparsely populated state 180 00:13:44,079 --> 00:13:49,680 in the nation, would lose 15% of its income if I-5 simply disappeared. 181 00:13:49,680 --> 00:13:58,250 It’s worth fully considering just how staggering that statistic is—a single, simple four-lane 182 00:13:58,250 --> 00:14:04,770 roadway, stretching some 300 miles or 500 kilometers through Oregon, attributable for 183 00:14:04,770 --> 00:14:07,730 15% of its income. 184 00:14:07,730 --> 00:14:11,279 This does, however, make sense. 185 00:14:11,279 --> 00:14:15,700 Oregon’s economy—significantly undergirded by the natural resources, manufacturing, and 186 00:14:15,700 --> 00:14:19,339 agriculture sectors—is highly trade dependent. 187 00:14:19,339 --> 00:14:25,610 The state does not, however, have any major export ports, so when a manufacturer in Salem, 188 00:14:25,610 --> 00:14:30,399 Oregon, for example, needs to transport finished products to the port of Oakland, it would 189 00:14:30,399 --> 00:14:35,070 likely hire a truck to take the 9-hour journey south on I-5. 190 00:14:35,070 --> 00:14:39,870 The shortest non-Interstate route, however, would take 13 and a half hours on roads with 191 00:14:39,870 --> 00:14:45,380 potentially burdensome weight restrictions, inadequate facilities, low bridges, and other 192 00:14:45,380 --> 00:14:46,380 constraints. 193 00:14:46,380 --> 00:14:49,130 It just makes getting product out harder. 194 00:14:49,130 --> 00:14:55,250 Now, ultimately, transport cost is rarely an enormous portion of a given product’s 195 00:14:55,250 --> 00:15:00,370 cost—a five-cent increase on a $10 product produced further from Oakland isn’t massive—but 196 00:15:00,370 --> 00:15:05,810 that’s not the context that matters in the competition between places for industry. 197 00:15:05,810 --> 00:15:10,850 If the options are between a state that has a conduit enabling lower-cost, reliable, fast 198 00:15:10,850 --> 00:15:15,990 transportation in and out, and all other factors are the same, why would a manufacturer decide 199 00:15:15,990 --> 00:15:19,420 to locate is the more poorly connected place? 200 00:15:19,420 --> 00:15:25,080 The economy is a competition, and in competition, the smallest margins matter, even when they 201 00:15:25,080 --> 00:15:28,320 don’t in a non-competitive context. 202 00:15:28,320 --> 00:15:33,120 Considering the alternate was the status quo—individual states building their own highways, disconnected 203 00:15:33,120 --> 00:15:37,800 from any national program—this program caught the states that couldn’t afford massive 204 00:15:37,800 --> 00:15:42,760 infrastructure projects, many of which were in the South and West, up to the rest. 205 00:15:42,760 --> 00:15:48,389 Therefore, Interstates made these states more competitive by reducing their relative distance 206 00:15:48,389 --> 00:15:50,180 to the rest of the world. 207 00:15:50,180 --> 00:15:54,290 That’s not to say the program was perfect, though. 208 00:15:54,290 --> 00:16:00,370 Just as much as it proved revolutionary to more rural areas, it gutted cities. 209 00:16:00,370 --> 00:16:05,730 Neighborhoods, predominantly poorer ones, were leveled to the ground to make space for 210 00:16:05,730 --> 00:16:09,120 Interstates and their associated infrastructure. 211 00:16:09,120 --> 00:16:14,220 This often created clear, physical barriers between certain neighborhoods and urban centers, 212 00:16:14,220 --> 00:16:17,360 which reduced opportunity in these excluded neighborhoods. 213 00:16:17,360 --> 00:16:22,450 They also had the effect of encouraging reduced density, which increases the environmental 214 00:16:22,450 --> 00:16:27,140 impact of cities, creates scenarios where job opportunity is linked to car ownership, 215 00:16:27,140 --> 00:16:30,120 and additional potential negative impacts. 216 00:16:30,120 --> 00:16:36,970 Altogether, the way in which Interstates interact with cities was often poorly planned and executed. 217 00:16:36,970 --> 00:16:42,760 But when examined in aggregate, the Interstate highway system is one of the best investments 218 00:16:42,760 --> 00:16:45,170 the United States ever made. 219 00:16:45,170 --> 00:16:50,829 While by no means unique to the United States in concept, the vastness and regional disparities 220 00:16:50,829 --> 00:16:56,060 in the country meant such a system had a uniquely powerful impact. 221 00:16:56,060 --> 00:17:02,390 For every dollar spent on the program, it has returned at least six in economic benefit. 222 00:17:02,390 --> 00:17:06,510 In the context of nations, connectivity is power. 223 00:17:06,510 --> 00:17:11,390 Therefore, the reason why the Interstate highway system is the most impactful infrastructure 224 00:17:11,390 --> 00:17:18,170 program in American history is simply because, as of now, it’s the largest. 225 00:17:18,170 --> 00:17:23,660 I definitely enjoy nerding out about the Interstates, and hopefully you now do too, so I made a 226 00:17:23,660 --> 00:17:29,299 whole other video about the strangest, quirkiest sections of the system, like why Interstate 227 00:17:29,299 --> 00:17:34,750 180 exists—just connecting to a town of 700, and travelled on by only about 100 vehicles 228 00:17:34,750 --> 00:17:40,419 per hour—or the town that essentially exists because of one of the only stoplights on an 229 00:17:40,419 --> 00:17:41,419 Interstate. 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