Interstate Highway System Dbq Essay

In 2023 according to the Department of Transportation, it is projected that there will be 243.4 million licensed drivers in the United States and we are some of them.(Department of Transportation) Driving became more and more popular with the introduction of paved, organized and safer roadways. This prompted a boom in companies building cars, people buying cars and a roadway expansion. The Interstate Highway System changed America, as most would expect, it did so with both positive and negative outcomes. The Interstate Highway System was safer, faster, easier to use, connected the country, and boosted the economy. However, they also cost money to build and needed land to build on. People became reliant on cars, therefore the updated and new

They weren’t freeways, liberating Americans to get a move on.” The newly designed Interstate Highways were safer than many other roadways. “ They have features such as medians and barriers to separate lanes traveling in opposite directions, and they use exit and entrance ramps to eliminate intersections.” (Document A) There are only 6.7% fatalities on the Interstate versus the 33.1% on local roads with lights, according to Document A. Highway travel time was reduced by 25% due to the new Interstate Highway System.(Document E) The Interstate Highway System allowed for faster and safer travel from place to place. This gave shipping companies and businesses a reason to get their goods out faster. Faster transport of goods allows for more product sales and more money to be made. US productivity grew and travel time was reduced. With the new highways people were able to travel faster, safer and with

Once the war had ended the United States saw a growth in wages, consumer spending, housing, the production of cars and public work projects. “The Interstate Highway System was the biggest of these.” (Background Document) The highways connect people all along the main interstate and it helped to expand the population. “Between 1950 and 2020, the population of the entire United States approximately doubled.” (Document D) One main highway, the I-35 corridor, towns along the route grew astronomically in size. The population boomed in all the towns, for example in Denton, Texas the population was 21,300 in 1950 and then it grew to 138,500 in 2020. Another town was Ankeny, IA, in 1950 the population was 1,200 and then it expanded to 65,300 in 2020. (Document D) The Interstate Highway System helped towns and businesses to grow along the major roadways. Past that however, into the smaller towns there was a possible negative effect. The smaller towns could lose the people living there, therefore homes could go abandoned and shops/stores would shut