THE ROAD AHEAD INTERSTATE HIGHWAY SYSTEM CATERPILLAR TRACTOR CO. 44104

[@Cowracer67]

Eight lanes of shimmering cement running from here to Pasadena. Smooth, safe, fast. Traffic jams will be a thing of the past. I see a place where people get on and off the freeway. On and off, off and on all day, all night. Soon, where Toontown once stood will be a string of gas stations, inexpensive motels, restaurants that serve rapidly prepared food. Tire salons, automobile dealerships and wonderful, wonderful billboards reaching as far as the eye can see. My God, it'll be beautiful.

[@whatyoumakeofit6635]

I know. Listening to him pitch the road system its as though hes being sarcastic. "$9 a year is all it will cost each person your city will be beautiful like this....." . Lmao. Maybe we would have been better without it

[@almostfm]

@@whatyoumakeofit6635 "Listening to him pitch the road system its as though hes being sarcastic." Wait-you're telling me things have _changed_ in the past 65 years? Shocked, that's what I am-absolutely shocked. "Maybe we would have been better without it" Yes, it would be much better to have the amount of traffic we have today stuck on two or four-lane roads that have stopsigns at every wide spot in the road, along with the attendant speed traps, narrow bridges, and dangerous curves.

[@jonathanbray3075]

Too bad Walter Cronkite isn't around TODAY!... HE could help CREEPY JOE INC. sell all this CRAP the the LIBS want to DO TO THE U.S. A.!!! Gee!!!.. That Ol' Boy Walter, can surely talk a dog off a meat wagon!!!

[@kaziu312]

"C'mon! No one's going to drive this lousy freeway when they can ride the Red Car for a nickel"

[@unconventionalideas5683]

The amount of traffic we have today would never exist without the Interstate System. The amount of road traffic, especially in cities, towns, and areas that are not exceptionally rural, is arbitrary, and is a function of the amount of asphalt given to them in the first place. Google induced demand and you'll see what I mean.@@almostfm

[@Blippity_Bloop64]

Love it! Handy tip, though. If you're trying to show folks how the new system will speed them along, it's probably best not to show an overhead shot of a six-lane traffic jam.

[@CosmosNut]

Another amazing window into the past, thank you.

[@bloqk16]

At @17:14 in this video the community of Wendell, Idaho, is spoken about. I used to live near there in the mid-1970s, there was barely anything to that community at that time; yet, to hear the narration with the local businessman saying the interstate highway reduced traffic congestion. (in a tone of exclamation) What congestion?!! Census info says the population there was 1,200 in 1960.

[@MerleOberon]

Imagine trying to build it today, they'd be lucky to get a few miles done.

[@CarminesRCTipsandTricks]

Even if Congress COULD, between the EnviroNazis, Snowflakes and Basement Gamers.... There would be almost NOBODY under the age of 40 to do the actual WORK!

[@ManInTheBigHat]

Yes, but at least there would be women driving the caterpillars and the kids would be in daycare like it's supposed to be.

[@xs10z]

butthurt much?

[@johnp139]

We would never get the Greedpublicans to cough up any money for it.

[@WesternOhioInterurbanHistory]

@@CarminesRCTipsandTricks yes

[@AllenManor]

My dad was the art director on this film.

[@whatyoumakeofit6635]

Thats neat

[@DanbyDoo]

So cool, thanks to dad !

[@peanutbuttercookies6831]

Who?

[@rocknral]

When I visited LA I drove into a car park. Funny thing is, the people were still sitting in their cars and it was 8 lanes wide. Now that's progress!

[@fairfaxcat1312]

Now the customer can get to the stores without having to fight through traffic.

[@chickey333]

Right..!!

[@briane173]

More like, now the customer can get to the traffic without having to fight through the stores.

[@jasonwomack4064]

Walter on the news: the ruskies are gonna nuke us any minute now. Walter in industrial films: let me tell you about a beautiful future.

[@lukestrawwalker]

Bet he was paid in Caterpillar stock... LOL:) Probably why he said Vietnam was lost-- he didn't have enough Brown and Root stock LOL:) The system has worked that way for a LONG time LOL:) OL J R :)

[@19fortynine10]

Shiny new cars.

[@flynbrian529]

this film shows just how the gov lies to us

[@bk14nyc]

Walt Disney 😊

[@therealgadielsepulveda]

r/agedlikemilk

[@falldownhard]

"Speed you to work" as it shows a traffic jam on the interstate expressway just starting - and they ain't seen nothin' yet!

[@JeffDeWitt]

True but... Cronkite said you'd be able to live 30 miles from work and get there in 30 minutes. I live about 30 miles from work and driving I-40 it usually takes me about 30 minutes to get to work.

[@falldownhard]

Wow - I wish that were true everywhere but I can safely say it was rare I ever got to work at top speed or even close. Granted that commuting was primarily in greater Boston on the infamous I-95/Rt 128.

[@resting2528]

Jeff DeWitt In Washington State work is continuing constantly and never gets caught up.

[@DTD110865]

@@falldownhard You do know that I-95 wasn't meant to overlap Route 128, right?

[@fairfaxcat1312]

Jeff DeWitt If corrupt Cronkite said it then that’s the way it is.

[@andywolan]

22:11 a 6-lane highway with no divider in the middle. Yikes!

[@DeTrOiTXX12]

10:42 8 lanes in this shot. Double yikes! lol

[@andywolan]

@@DeTrOiTXX12 Gee! I'll stick to the far right on that road.

[@maze2000wi]

Ridiculous. The next thing they'll tell us is that we'll all be carrying computers around all the time!

[@bti2270]

I'll need to get a bigger wheelbarrow to lug one of those monsters around!

[@tomkeating65]

​@@bti2270yup, smartphones baby

[@rivotrich7]

Today from Arlington VA to downtown DC drive took almost an hour to drive about 6 miles during rush hour. I wonder if the City center freeway planners of the 1950s ever envisioned that happening during rush hour periods more often than not.

[@DTD110865]

The problem is that they cancelled 14 other highway projects that would've prevented those one hour per six mile drives.

[@countrypaul]

Propaganda. And we bought into it. Yes, many benefits, but even more detriments to the quality of life. But remember, this was the gung-ho generation that won World War II; they felt they could do anything, so they did.

[@milfordcivic6755]

Back when people paid their taxes, which allowed for major infrastructure projects like this. Today, nobody wants to pay for anything.

[@dodgeguyz]

Milford Civic That’s because what we pay doesn’t even go where it needs to go.

[@dchawk81]

We don't want to but we do still pay.

[@jonathanbray3075]

Isn't it true that the gas/highway taxes have been QUIETLY diverted to "The General Fund" & used for SOCIAL PROGRAMS (like WELFARE etc.) in most States, for many many decades!

[@jonathanbray3075]

Ever wonder why bridges are deemed UNSAFE & roads everywhere have more CRATERS THAN THE MOON & MARS COMBINED!!!

[@lukestrawwalker]

That's because today gubmint pours half the money down a rathole before it ever goes where it's supposed to, and the contracts are mostly awarded to rip-off companies that charge 10X what the job actually would cost to do, then cut corners and deliver a cheap shoddy job that starts crumbling in a few years... nepotism and gubmint contract games are alive and well.... OL J R:)

[@maxgordon686]

Thanks for posting this (and all the other films). Seeing real, original artifacts such as these films is the most important way to understand the past!!

[@dougslittlediesel]

The Beautiful, Safe and Efficient Interstate Highway System. The Answer to all of our transportation problems and needs. Business's will prosper and everyone benefits from it. June 29th 1956. November 17th 2018. The Interstate Highway System has become as out dated and unsafe as the old US highway Interstate system it replaced. It has become out moded and functionally deficient. Bridges have become unsafe and miles upon miles of road beds have had to be torn up and rebuilt. Because they were built fast and cheap. And the age of deferred maintenance has took it's toll. Like the Mississippi Bridge at Minneapolis /St Paul Minnesota I-35 bridge collapse and the bridge collapse on the New York thru way. And toll roads that were to be paid for by the tolls they charge . And they're in bad shape as well in places. Oh the Interstate Highway system was only supposed to be used for 50yrs. . Then replaced by something more efficient and better. The roads were designed to last 50yrs.Even though at 10 to 15 years some stretches started to deteriorate. And at 25 to 30yrs they were tearing up entire stretches of highway to rebuild them. I-45 in Texas is a good example of this. Now they're talking about overhauling our infrastructure system because it has been so terribly neglected or over used and way past replacement in some cases. We built this monster and can't deal with it anymore. What are you and me going to do about it. And the thing about the local businesses will benefit from it to. Most moved out of the downtown and out by a interchange and access roads. Leaving a empty downtown in small towns and communities. Abandoned gas stations and diners and restaurants. Go out along old US 66 and look for the towns and villages that depended on the traffic coming through. Some the signs have dissapeared for the towns. Or there's a group of abandoned buildings on a cross roads or overgrown by trees and weeds along the road. Hiding where they once stood.

[@MsJamiewoods]

Victor Gruen's 1954 invention of the suburban, enclosed mall, climate-controlled shopping center destroyed countless downtowns. It has led to the abandoned retail businesses you describe. Yes, relocating through traffic around towns, villages and cities put some gas stations, smaller motels and restaurants out of business. Some of this was due to the rise of chains like the original incarnation of Holiday Inn, Days Inn, Motel 6, McDonald's, Howard Johnson's, etc. But gas stations and restaurants serving the local community did remain in business.

[@dchawk81]

"What are you and me going to do about it." I did my part. I bought a Buick.

[@tomjordan688]

Boy, you have excess smoke from a little diesel! Maybe it's time you design a IHS. so we can comment on it.

[@unconventionalideas5683]

Not really. It is a convenient narrative, but most bridges are just fine. Occasionally there are cases of design faults or incorrect maintenance, but this is not unique to the United States. That said, capacity is insufficient, because of induced demand. Note that the US has a huge amount of infrastructure--more per person than anywhere else in the world except Canada, and spending reflects this, but there is simply too much infrastructure.

[@dougslittlediesel]

@@unconventionalideas5683 ever watched concrete flake off of the underside of a bridge. US 65 south going to Branson. Bear Creek bridge built about 1964-65. Was crawdad gathering and heard concrete flakes hitting the water. Or bridges deteriorating on I-44 to the point of collapse.

[@surearrow]

>>-------------------------> You betcha brother...move over July 4th! Our family celebrates a more glorious day every year, June 29th! God bless the "The Interstate Highway and Defense Highways Act"! UPDATE 2017 HIGHWAY NEWS: >>California state and local governments want to cut highway lanes to their already over-crowded highway system, in favor of more bike lanes. Instead of providing the solutions for present and future traffic congestion, they are going backwards by cutting the legs off of struggling Americans who drive to work. These lane omissions will cause more traffic congestion, more auto pollution , more road rage and more lost time and money to people and businesses. That all equals out to more job loss and companies leaving the state. This hurts the poor more than any other demographic here. Most poor people are trapped in their location with rents agreements, jobs and no savings to move. For the past 20 years, the California state Democrats have proven to all of us that they are party of regression and the party of anti-progress by passing these self-aggrandizing boondoggles of harmful programs.

[@lightdark00]

surearrow if you get more people to commute by bicycle, roads can really help many more people get to work. It's time that people are less fat and lazy. Businesses need to give bonuses and have showers available for cyclists. You just can't continue adding lanes, you have to change the paradigm.

[@kevinloving606]

Los Angeles needs to bring back their trolley system And we need to invest in humaniod robots and quantum computing so we can charge companies that are miles out in the suburbs ¢15 an hour while all of us but poor in their soon to be upgraded neighborhoods can start at $15 an hour

[@davestewart2067]

The drive through window might be responsible however indirectly, for the fat and lazy of today.

[@MsJamiewoods]

In the Los Angeles area there is no more room for adding lanes to overloaded freeways. Mass transportation -- buses, light rail, and commuter rail -- is the only solution. I wish the Milwaukee area were doing the same. Our freeways are overloaded here, but the powers that be have rejected improving our bus-only system. Milwaukee County has less bus service today than when the county took over the system from a private operator 7/1/1975.

[@dodgeguyz]

lightdark00 You ride your bike 20-50 miles to work and see how that works out!

[@eddieafterburner]

5:34 “Over this network you’ll be able to drive border to border, or coast to coast, without ever seeing a stoplight” … unless, that is, you’re going thru Breezewood.

[@maxi-me]

@ 16:30 "business has been increased by the relief route" Unfortunately it's not going to save Allentown when the steel industry is relief routed halfway around the world over the proceeding decades. Incidentally almost everything predicted in this video turned out the opposite. Did Cronkite ever recant?

[@whatyoumakeofit6635]

Nope. He just admitted to pledge his allegiance to the new world order and that he worships satan.

[@rapman5791]

No he didn’t. However he did work hard to keep blacks and low income folks from Martha’s Vineyard 😮

[@bobsjers]

How sad that the Interstates today are clogged worse than the city streets were back then.

[@DTD110865]

Truncating them and thwarting necessary improvements tends to do that.

[@garcjr]

They should have at least built up a passenger railroad/streetcar expansion alongside the freeways in urban areas or connecting two nearby large cities together.

[@lukestrawwalker]

@@garcjr Funny thing about that... there used to be a LOT more "commuter rail" back then... My grandparents worked at the Baytown refineries in WW2 refining aviation gasoline. Of course with gas rationed due to the war, their only transportation was bicycle for local stuff, or rarely take the car anywhere. They lived in Highlands, a small town just north of present I-10 on the east side of Houston, and Grandma was telling me how she used to be able to get on the train and ride into downtown Houston to go shopping at the large Sears store and Montgomery Wards stores back then... stuff you couldn't get locally or just when you had some time and wanted to do something. It was cheap and easy and you just got on and paid your fare and were delivered right to downtown Houston 20 miles away(ish). Do what you wanted/needed, ride the train back. Heck even our little farm town of Needville, 45 miles SW of Houston, used to have passenger service by rail-- Frank James, brother of Jesse James, who was a friend of my great-grandpa's from his days back in Kansas before he moved down here around the turn of the century, rode the train down to visit with him for about a week... I have the newspaper clipping somewhere from it that I found in Grandma's things after she passed away. They moved the station downtown for a museum after WW2 at some point; they weren't doing anything but hauling grain on the railroad anymore, even the old Jefferson Lake Sulfur plant had closed by that point so they weren't hauling out sulfur by rail anymore. They tore the tracks up in the mid-80's. Grandma said, "this country is going backwards" and it's true. The rail service she told me about riding to Houston went away sometime in the early postwar years. Even the trains from Galveston shut down in the late 60's, IIRC. Back in the 90's I wanted to take a train to New Jersey to visit my then-girlfriend, simply because I love trains and thought it'd be fun and less bothersome than driving all that way. Imagine my shock and surprise when I looked up on Amtrack and found out I'd have to ride a bus to Dallas to catch the train, then FOUR DAYS to New Jersey, and it was going to cost $700 bucks!!! This was at a time when you could fly Southwest anywhere in the US for $99 bucks and get there in about 3 hours max... Just crazy! The trains didn't even come to Houston anymore, so your ticket from Houston to New Jersey, they put you on a bus to get to Dallas where the closest passenger trains were! I decided I'd just drive it, I had a good fuel efficient car and it was an adventure... A lot of those passenger trains back then disappeared because of improved roads and then freeways and the interstate system after the war. Why crowd onto older trains you had to wait for and schedule around when you could just hop in your car and GO! Gas was cheap and you could go whenever you wanted to! So the "mass transit" of trains fell out of favor and has never come back, well, anyplace where there's any other choice that is... Houston and a bunch of other cities have "metro trains" now but they're a bad joke... ridership is abysmal I read it'd actually be cheaper to just deliver them by taxicab to their destinations LOL:) OL J R :)

[@petejohnson8397]

No they're not. Not even close.

[@Specter1065]

I couldn't place the narrator...then it came to me, Walter Cronkite. I remember seeing him on the nightly news many years ago...

[@fromthesidelines]

At the time (1957), Cronkite was the "anchor" of CBS' 'YOU ARE THERE" {later the narrator of "THE TWENTIETH CENTURY"}, and anchored the late evening "SUNDAY NEWS SPECIAL" at 11pm(et). This was one of his rare assignments outside of CBS News.

[@MsJamiewoods]

I grew up in the 70s watching Walter Cronkite on the CBS Evening News nightly at 5:30 p.m. (Central Time).

[@TnseWlms]

"And the Interstate Highway system will guarantee decades of future prosperity for Texas oil and Detroit auto manufacturers."

[@samhouston1673]

Pay attention to all of the Chamber of Commerce promises. While the script readers attesting to the economic greatness were not exactly telling the truth, that short economic boon was quickly erased when the State Legislatures voted to allow building along those bypasses. Bypasses that were now becoming congested with more and more on/off ramps to feed the new businesses that the greedy politicians and Chamber ushered in. Thus all of the traditional businesses along the original route (now the Business Route) quickly went into economic depression. Most closed up, while the larger ones could afford to rebuild on the bypass. Those eventually expiring to the Big Box retailers that bypasses afforded the space to build. Thus, the promise of the Interstate System bypasses were and outright to small business America. Included in this lie was that of the small businesses that dotted the old highway systems that had become completely cut-off as the new Interstate was laid and access removed. Go to any town and small city where these bypasses occurred and you will see the economic detritus caused by this. This is exactly what happened to towns and communities that got bypassed by the railroads.

[@bobt5778]

This is the future - well with a few more cars on the road...

[@awizardalso]

I can't say the freeway system isn't a benefit but what I hated was back around 1965 when I was 11 years old, they destroyed the woods I spent a lot of time in to run I-71 through Brookpark and Middleburgh Hgts. suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio south east from the Cleveland Hopkins airport. Many animals killed or driven out into nearby neighborhoods that caused problems for people. Many people were forced by eminent domain out of homes they lived in for years. Even though they were compensated for their property, you can't compensate for the life they lived and lost only to memories. That's all I have left just memories.

[@tj8771]

Ohhhhh, Walter Cronkite so optimistic but so far off. our population has tripled yet most of us are driving on those same 1956 roads because of our corrupt government is not spending the people's money to improve our interstate system for 2018. Most of these towns that you mentioned have quadrupled in population yet the roads are the same size. Our Interstate System should be at least six Lanes or more east of the Mississippi in 2018 yet most of them are still four Lane.

[@DTD110865]

Because everybody keeps saying "Not In My BackYard."

[@henrystowe6217]

Spot on

[@CycolacFan]

Every image of the freeway from above showed the traffic barely moving. That guy who ran the motel that was by-passed by new Route 66 must have a lot of locals staying - probably all having affairs.

[@almostfm]

I've been to Rolla. There's really nothing to do there, other than your secretary.

[@bradjohnston8193]

The No-Tell Motel!!

[@chickey333]

".... to meet the standards and needs of 1975..." Well that was 45 years ago. It must be they figured that we would have solved all of the world's problems by then. Guess not...

[@c.t.turner2123]

Present Day: I-75 and I-95 are two of the worst traffic plagued interstates

[@bloqk16]

Checked on the map about Rolla, Missouri, that's in this video @14:21. What they call Highway 66 in the video, it is now "Interstate 44;" between Springfield and St. Louis.

[@johnazhderian5734]

If this current generation ran America in the 1950's and before there be no cars or freeways or any form of progress.

[@pacbeltrr38]

The OP specifically meant the "Everyone's a Winner" Generation, more interested in finding Safe Spaces and not being offended, than doing ANYTHING to actually improve the current way of life. Also, thanks to 90's politics..... If they started something like that in 1956, we would STILL be waiting for EnviroNazis, protesting the removal of a *Bee Hive* or a family of Squirrels being relocated!!! 😱😒😑

[@michaelwills1926]

Sure Joe, keep telling yourself that. Now get the hell out of the way we’re bringing this back.

[@kevinloving606]

Eh don't be to hard them there still raised in Christian homes,and they'll bring in wireless electrics without batteries

[@ecf766]

John Azhderian This generation is the generation of Pussies !😹😹

[@JeffDeWitt]

If the entitled creeps that keep making the news are an example if that generation was running America in the 50's America would no longer exist.

[@Mark-ce3gp]

"At a pace never known before". The third Reich knew that pace. 21:10

[@TheyRiseBand]

The initial Interstate construction was an exact replica of the Nazi Autobahn.

[@awizardalso]

In June 1956, I was two years and one month old, and in Manhattan, NYC. My family moved to the east side of Cleveland in 1957. In 1959, they bought a new house in Brookpark, a suburb of Cleveland near the airport. In 1964, they cut down a lot of trees in one of our favorite forest areas to go to to make room for I-77 and killed a lot of wildlife as well. Very sad time for me and my friends.

[@bradjohnston8193]

Yep. You're juuuuuuuuuust the right age for it. Hippie.

[@Driver6M]

I guess Colonel Sanders didn't watch this presentation? We might have had to wait a few more years for fried chicken if he did :)

[@MsJamiewoods]

Col. Sanders had a successful local restaurant going until a superhighway bypassed the town where he was in. He ended up selling the Kentucky Fried Chicken pressure cookers and recipe out of his car as he drove town to town.

[@ErnestTeeBass]

Walter Cronkite’s shoe polish in his hair was a good look.

[@OldsVistaCruiser]

Unfortunately, many of those interstates that were designed to cope with 1975 traffic are still basically unchanged in 2020, and create bottlenecks. Interstates should have been a minimum of 6 lanes.

[@doubledthread56]

Why would you have a 6 lane interstate in somewhere like North Dakota?

[@OldsVistaCruiser]

@@doubledthread56 - When you have 2 tractor trailers side by side at 45 mph in a 75 or 80 mph zone, one trying to pass the other.

[@doubledthread56]

OldsVistaCruiser you’re not wrong. Have you been down I-78 and I-81 in Pennsylvania between Allentown and Harrisburg? It’s a nightmare because there’s only 2 lanes in each direction so the trucks are taking up 2 lanes and we can’t pass them. Ridiculous.

[@OldsVistaCruiser]

@@doubledthread56 - That's exactly where I live. I use Exit 8 on I-78 or Exit 85 on I-81 to get to my mom's house. I used to live in Bucks and Montgomery Counties, and that's how I would go back home.

[@OldsVistaCruiser]

@@doubledthread56 - They are widening I-78 between Exit 35 (PA 143, Lenhartsville) and the Lehigh County line (MM 43.7).

[@MakeMeThinkAgain]

Nothing about the increase in value of land near interstate exits and how that would change the character of both cities and country. I do wonder if anyone was thinking about that, it is never mentioned.

[@georgeknight9241]

The planners in 1956 did not plan that the highways would used as part of the "just in time " factory production line. That is why most interstates are clogged with truck traffic.

[@robertpayne2717]

I was born in November 1956 graduated high school 1975, I remember when the national highway interstate Speed Limit Was 75 MPH..but I think it is time for high speed interstate rail

[@henrystowe6217]

Nixon lowered the speed limit to 55 in 1974, where it stayed until the National Motorists Association successfully got it repealed by Congress in 1995.

[@almostfm]

High speed rail makes sense where you've got a lot of people travelling relatively short distances, like the NE corridor between Boston and DC. Had it not been criminally mismanaged, it would have worked in California. But the population is too small and too spread out for it to work financially in the rest of the country.

[@chickey333]

High speed rail?? Would never happen in most areas. The petroleum lobbies are much too powerful to allow that. Why do you think LA doesn't have a subway?

[@almostfm]

@@chickey333 It's not that "The petroleum lobbies are much too powerful to allow that". Its that there just aren't enough people who need to go from Omaha to Denver every day to make it financially viable. Population density doesn't lie. "Why do you think LA doesn't have a subway?" Gee, maybe you should tell Los Angeles Metro Rail that they don't exist-it'll be quite a shock to them. www.metro.net/

[@WesternOhioInterurbanHistory]

We had it before the highways were built.

[@DanbyDoo]

That is when America was.....America ! Hell yeah.

[@markreeter6227]

It was a nice ride while it lasted. Too bad I won’t live long enough to see teleportation.

[@renatoamaral8259]

Outstanding video, finely produced and edited, specially considering when it was done: 1956!!! Walter Cronkite had a great diction, which is important for persons like me who have english as a second language. Thanks for posting this fine material. A+. ;)

[@billhuber2964]

I believe this what got ike reelected for a second term.

[@davestewart2067]

No. Eisenhower was very popular as a “war hero”. Adlai Stevenson was not a strong enough opponent.

[@danielbelisle5152]

And road rage will involve less shootings

[@interstellarphred]

What does downtown Rolla look like today?

[@lukestrawwalker]

I might have to get off the interstate and shoot a video there... I go through there a couple times a year usually driving up to northern Indiana to see the inlaws, from south Texas. I think we might have gotten off the freeway there to get gas one time, just another small town along a stream of small towns in the bootheel of Missouri. We used to stay the night in Blytheville, Arkansas which was the last decent sized town in Arkansas before crossing over in Missouri. Now we usually stay down around Brinkley, so that we can get to Sikeston about the time Lambert's Cafe (famous throwed rolls!) opens so we can have a good lunch, and still arrive in Rochester, Indiana, between about 10 and midnight... It's just a small town in primarily farm country. You could probably look at it in street view in Google Earth LOL:) OL J R :)

[@railstoruin]

Now they've reached or exceeded their useful service capacity. The next interstate project? High Speed Rail

[@michaelwills1926]

railstoruin they’re used day by day and hour by hour and do the job just fine.

[@kevinloving606]

With electric locomotives or better yet battery powered locomotives no over head wires

[@JeffDeWitt]

@@kevinloving606 Yeah, THAT'S going to work. Do you have any idea how big those batteries would have to be?

[@kevinloving606]

@@JeffDeWitt Well British Railways is expirimenting with battery powered trains

[@JeffDeWitt]

@@kevinloving606 You're right, it looks like they are (or were in 2015 and I didn't see any updates). The batteries took up a whole car and were recharged either at a station, by overhead wires, or by a Diesel engine. www.railway-technology.com/projects/independently-powered-electric-multiple-unit-ipemu-essex/

[@Cowracer67]

Drinking Game! Take a shot every time Uncle Walter says the words "Smooth", "Fast" or "Rapid".

[@buddyclem7328]

Or "economical!"

[@tsunsu]

Um ya

[@johnp139]

Wait, isn’t this socialism?

[@almostfm]

No, not every government program is socialism. Stop trying to call roads or the military "socialism" to justify whatever the hell you want the government to give you for free.

[@evansjohnc]

A road is classified as a public good. Unlike a private good a public good is non exclusionary and non discriminatory. Me getting military or police protection doesn't prevent you from getting it. A private good has an elastic demand. If you try to make a private good "free", you will have shortages and a drop in quality.

[@xotic8617]

Wow ... these upgrades will be great when they are completed one day

[@unconventionalideas5683]

It won't ever solve it. Google induced demand. It has been established for more than sixty years.

[@RobPryme]

6:06 did the father just reach back to hit one of the kids?

[@hebneh]

I can't say what I was doing on June 29, 1956...I was 2 years old. I wasn't driving a car yet, that's for sure.

[@CarminesRCTipsandTricks]

I was negative 8!!! 😮😜

[@lukestrawwalker]

I wasn't even a gleam in anyone's eye yet... or as my brother would say, "a stain on the mattress" LOL:) OL J R :)

[@krazi77]

their "relief routes," now known as bypass routes or truck routes, were eventually built up with business and just as congested as the original routes going through towns. and this caused urban sprawl, which killed off stores in historic downtown areas.

[@lukestrawwalker]

Yes, if they weren't controlled access... Kokomo, Indiana springs to mind... driving through there going up to the inlaws in northern Indiana, the "bypass" was a pretty straight shot and completely avoided the old "historic downtown", but while it was a divided highway, it wasn't limited access so basically all the new businesses went in out there, and the old downtown withered. Of course all the traffic coming/going from the new business required tons of stop lights, turn lanes, etc. so it took 15-20 minutes to get through Kokomo, unless you happened to be going through there in the wee hours of the morning. Still, like a dozen red lights IIRC and it was well nigh impossible to hit all of them, so you set at a red light with nobody else around. Pretty stupid. SO to deal with the congestion, a few years back they FINALLY built ANOTHER bypass around the town, this time making it limited access freeway, so that any business tempted to move out there would face harder access and be less inclined to do so, and to keep from choking up the NEW bypass with more traffic. If you want to see the definition of urban/suburban sprawl, look no further than Houston... it's built up along the 3 major freeways (I-10 E/W, I-45 N/S, I-69 (SH-59 for most of it) NE/SW) so that basically you'll drive through 100 miles or more of urban sprawl along the freeways from one side of the city to the other. In places it's only within a couple miles or so of the freeway, at least the businesses that crowd the access roads and major arteries tying into them, but beyond that is an endless ocean of suburban homes... Later! OL J R :)

[@MrBilly235]

9:42 $9.00 per year in additional Federal taxes to make anywhere USA look like this!

[@edwardmiessner6502]

Those fabulous superhighways of tomorrow back then are now the inadequate, congested highways of today. What to do then? Adding road capacity would only induce almost twice the additional traffic demand. There was a study done that showed that for every 100 additional vehicles in ADT provided for, 180 vehicles show up. What's the solution then? Railways of every kind. And lots of them.

[@henrystowe6217]

That could work, but true limited access would work. Toll roads too.

[@almostfm]

Railways work really well when you've got high numbers of people all going from one place to another. In the Northeast, they make sense. Going from, say Denver to Cheyenne, there isn't going to be enough passenger traffic to justify running several trains a day (which you'd need to do to make it convenient enough to justify not driving)

[@briane173]

Right -- a 19th Century solution to a 21st Century problem. You will never get the average American to give up the freedom and flexibility of their own automobile driving on whatever road they choose to get where they want or have to go in favor of light rail. For what Portland, OR has paid for its light rail system it could've finished its planned projects approved in the 60s and congestion wouldn't be nearly what it is today with only two interstates (and their spur routes) servicing an area of almost 3 million people. Rail takes you in a straight line everywhere but where you want to go; you'll have to hoof it the rest of the way or ride a bus using those dastardly streets and highways. Portland is a nightmare -- bumper-to-bumper traffic and half-empty light rail cars during rush hour.

[@lukestrawwalker]

The solution is more freight by rail and less interstate trucking. Neither is likely to happen. The railroads really fumbled the ball, which is why trucking became THE method of shipment of choice. Now production systems have grown up around that paradigm... "Just in time" production relies on fast point-to-point interstate trucking. Railroads are STILL *THE* most efficient method of transportation per ton-mile, beating trucks all to pieces, because steel wheels on steel rails have WAY less friction than rubber tires on concrete freeways. The problem is, industry got tired of their shipments languishing, waiting to be loaded on railcars, cars made into trains in hump yards, sometimes cars being shunted between several trains through yards en route from the shipping point to the destination, and then having to wait for it to be unloaded on the other end. As most factories didn't have direct rail service, MOST of the stuff had to be loaded onto trucks and hauled to the railroad and then loaded back on trucks to haul it to the final destination, so if it's on a truck ANYWAY, cut out the middleman and just send it directly to the destination by interstate truck. That's how trucking took over from the railroads. The only thing that kept the railroads alive was their efficiency at hauling bulk products like grain, oil, gravel, sand, cement, steel coil, coal, automobiles, petrochemicals, bulk plastics, etc. Feedstocks used by big factories that justified point-to-point rail service, and where the sheer volume and greater efficiency per ton-mile was a big advantage, and where 'ASAP delivery' wasn't much of an issue. That's why there's SO much trucking now. The other thing that really saved the railroads bacon was "intermodal" transport-- hauling shipping containers en masse from ports directly the distribution points where the entire con-ex box can go directly on a truck chassis to the final end user, or to a huge distribution warehouse where the shipments are broken down and divvied up onto multiple other trucks going to sales outlets, particularly when you're talking about massive amounts of imported cheap crap from China. Intermodal and bulk is about 95% of the railroads business anymore... Unfortunately, I don't see the trends reversing unless fuel just gets SO expensive and SO scarce that nobody really has much choice BUT to go back to rail service instead of trucking... The railroads tried hauling semi trailers on flatcars and even "road railers" which were semi trailers designed to be lowered onto railroad wheelsets and assembled into long trains, and shipped by rail from major point to major point, mostly coast-to-coast. It never was particularly successful. Maybe something like that will come back, sorta like intermodal now... who knows. Later! OL J R: )

[@lukestrawwalker]

@@briane173 Same in Houston... and their friggin' "toy train" that toodles around empty most of the time runs on tracks set IN THE STREET so it didn't do a d@mn thing but screw traffic up WORSE! Plus it only goes to a couple sections of town, mainly the medical center and downtown. The rest is an absolute joke. The stupid trains trip the traffic lights ahead of them, if a train is pulling into the station 2 blocks away it'll INSTANTLY trip the traffic lights 2 blocks away leaving you high and dry... I drove a school trip down there one time and the light turned green, I started across the intersection didn't get a full bus length and it INSTANTLY went "yellow, RED" in about 2-3 seconds, I hit the brakes but now I'm straddling the crosswalk that of course just turned green to allow a hundred people to cross, except I'm straddling the crosswalk and ALSO the RH lane of traffic, with oncoming traffic, and all I can do is SIT THERE-- can't back up, because people are stopped 3 feet behind my rear bumper... can't go forward, OBVIOUSLY, and run the light, plus I have to stop for the train tracks ANYWAY being a school bus. Just a total monkey-fvck... All for a stupid train running down the two center lanes of the streets that stopped to let off TWO PEOPLE and pick up 2-3... RIDICULOUS! I told my boss about it when I got back, and told him I wasn't driving any more trips down there, I'd had it. Total BS. I talked to another driver from a neighboring school district in the hospitality room at a high school debate I drove for one time and she said, "Oh yeah, our superintendent drove a bus on a field trip a few years back and he told the teachers "NO MORE field trips to ANY downtown Houston destinations-- no more museums, zoo, NOTHING, because of that stupid train... SO now we drive our field trips 230 miles to San Antonio instead of 50 miles to Houston"... Later! OL J R :)

[@ernestconnell8087]

If Walter said it, then I believed it.

[@pdbronco]

So I guess Uncle Walter started lying before Vietnam

[@lukestrawwalker]

They probably paid him in Caterpillar stock LOL:) Notice it was funded by Caterpillar and they showed lots of footage of all them big Cat scrapers and dozers! Gonna sell a ton of them! As for Vietnam, he probably didn't have enough Brown and Root stock, or Hughes Helicopter stock... why it was 'unwinnable" LOL:) OL J R :)

[@lynnslawson7576]

From 14:25 - 16:00, they’re talking about the beneficial effects from the bypassing of the main streets of Rolla, Missouri. Note that the transcription has an incorrect spelling, showing it as “Raleigh”. The town name is actually pronounced Roll-a (rhyming with Doll-uh). 🙂 All these years later the university, MO S&T (formerly Missouri School of Mines and then University of Missouri-Rolla) has taken over a major portion of the downtown with buildings, parking lots, sororities/fraternities, and student housing.

[@waldcast]

It was never intended to be only a ten year project.

[@J_Calvin_Hobbes]

Multiple views showed traffic jams were already occurring on those brand new roads!

[@Progrocker70]

That pic of the bent up steering wheel at 2:09 is frightening. Sharp metal horn ring, hard plastic and metal, non collapsing. Trying not to imagine the poor soul's face that was abruptly slammed into it.

[@briane173]

Yet seatbelts weren't required in cars until 1968.

[@hebneh]

It was probably the chest of the poor soul behind the wheel that caused it to be bent and broken this way on impact when the car came to a sudden and disastrous stop. Not that it matters much because he or she probably died, regardless of what hit what.

[@Bob-yl9pm]

Hey! It's Walter Koncrete!

[@whatyoumakeofit6635]

Ya.....the man whom helped bring the nwo to the united states through roughly 2, maybe 3, generations and....worships satan. His words, not mine.

[@sbeallvln]

What highway is this at 3:15? Does anyone know what state?

[@ArtiePenguin1]

I think that might be the Kansas Turnpike (I-70) near Eudora, KS which is just east of Lawrence. There aren't that many Eudoras in the US, the other I could find was in Florida and the scenery doesn't look like FL.

[@WesternOhioInterurbanHistory]

2:02 "a tragic waste of time, money, and lives" Car accidents skyrocketed after the highway system was put in place. Railroads went bankrupt after this and millions of jobs were lost. People waste hours in traffic today. This flim is a mess.

[@almostfm]

" Car accidents skyrocketed after the highway system was put in place" That's not what the data shows. In 1955, there were 6.06 deaths per 100 million miles traveled. That number has been trending downward ever since. If there are more accidents, it's because the total number of miles traveled went up 50% between 1956 and 1966.

[@WesternOhioInterurbanHistory]

@@almostfm Car accidents did increase after the highway system came into being. kzbin.info/www/bejne/g5rYd6pqqcekgZY

[@almostfm]

@@WesternOhioInterurbanHistory Since the Interstates specifically avoid "at grade" railroad crossings (which is what your linked video is talking about), it's not the fault of the IHS.

[@WesternOhioInterurbanHistory]

@@almostfm 3:18 in the linked video, it shows a graph demonstrating highway accidents. Railroad crossing accidents did decrease, but notice that highway accidents also did increase.

[@almostfm]

@@WesternOhioInterurbanHistory That graph doesn't show the deaths per mile travelled, which is what I was referencing. If the number of miles traveled goes up by 25% and the number of deaths goes up by 10%, the deaths per mile traveled will go down. If the deaths per mile decrease, it's a safer road (that and improved car design).

[@bloqk16]

Ironic that at the end of the film that shows Highway 101 approaching San Francisco, that there is no freeway going through the city to connect to the Golden Gate Bridge. That as of the present day, northbound freeway motorists entering San Francisco to the Golden Gate Bridge still have to navigate through Van Ness Avenue and Lombard Street to reach the bridge.

[@ranasneed451]

Anyone see all the lies...propaganda...😂😂😂😂😂

[@ErnestTeeBass]

What is a roadmap?

[@lukestrawwalker]

It's a magical, mystical thing that used to tell people smart enough to be able to use one where they were, how to get to their next destination, and how far away it was, and what was in between, and it DIDN'T USE BATTERIES, rely on an internet connection, or use a questionable algorithm to "recalculate" things... LOL:) OL J R :)

[@Hot80s]

By 1969 they became america's dieways.

[@kevinloving606]

Ha ha no accidents and lower insurance rates yeah still waiting

[@MsJamiewoods]

It took the Federal Highway Safety Act and Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Act of the mid 60s to bring about safer roads and safer cars. Before then there was no uniform pavement marking system nationwide. Cars were death traps in accidents, and even things like blunt-end guard rails were deadly. The real game-changer for highway safety was not popular -- the 55 mph speed limit. Once that law went into effect in 1974 highway deaths started going down for the first time since the driving limitations during WWII.Bring the 55 mph speed limit back, perhaps 65 mph on rural Interstates only, and add in things like air bags and mandatory seat belts and traffic death tolls will once again go down.

[@MsJamiewoods]

Also, I noticed many times in the film where divided highway traffic was separated only by a curb and paved median. That proved obsolete by 1970. Fortunately6 the engineers at General Motors developed the GM barrier which placed a slanted, low wall between opposing traffic. The GM barrier was designed so tires would slide off.

[@almostfm]

@@MsJamiewoods Actually, the death rate (per 100 million miles driven) is about half what it was when the 55 mph speed limit went into effect.

[@lukestrawwalker]

@@almostfm Don't confuse an ideologue on a mission with facts... LOL:) OL J R :)

[@davestewart2067]

Good design is what saves lives. Wide medians good sight lines full shoulders etc. If hypothetically the “cell phone” had never been invented - accident rates might be half what they are today.

[@stephentruscott200]

In 1956 I was still in BAG-DADDY!

[@joebarilari9911]

Accidents,,,, A Thing of the Past.... What a liar

[@almostfm]

The simple fact is that it's now far, far safer driving on the Interstate than before they were built. Traffic deaths per mile driven are about 1/6th of what they were back then.

[@martykelley5641]

How is there no actual date on this film?

[@pacemaker2120]

It was a great dream that worked for awhile until urban America was destroyed by more traffic, pollution, abandoned neighborhoods and a massive displacement of urban dwellers.

[@gregorysampson8759]

Little did we know...

[@mackpines]

Walter Cronkite had such a great voice. Best news anchor America ever had.

[@dchawk81]

00:55 "Trafic"

[@laserbeam002]

If a film is being narriated by Walter Cronkite it is bound to be a good one. And this one was perfect. Thank you for posting. We today take for granted the interstate highway system and what a gigantic building project it was. But America did it and we today benefit from it.

[@brucewelty7684]

Imagine that! Cronkite as a voicepiece for Socialism!!!!

[@almostfm]

Road building is not socialism. That claim has just become a cover for people who want the government to give them crap for "free".

[@ArmpitStudios]

Good stuff. The film of actual people and cars moving through towns is an important historical contribution, rather than just of construction and freeway traffic. It's so great to see things from that era.

[@jimrossi7708]

Walter Cronkite in the good ‘ol days !!

[@WesternOhioInterurbanHistory]

1:16 Ironically railroads were later killed by the highway system.

[@markdebruyn1212]

Mostly for passenger rail anyway

[@WesternOhioInterurbanHistory]

@@markdebruyn1212 also some of freight

[@normanott644]

I would rather drive the two lane, better drivers and better places to stop. It takes longer but being in a hurry causes accidents.

[@JeffDeWitt]

The Interstates are far safer than the two lanes, and it's really questionable that the drivers are any better. That being said if I'm not in a hurry I stay off the Interstates, I even drove Route 66 this year... all 2200 miles or so Chicago to LA.

[@kevinbarletta7749]

Well that sounds great, what the hell happened🤔😁

[@almostfm]

150 million more people and more than 200 million more cars.

[@silverlinings8240]

Today with endless traffic jams, air pollution, and thousands killed in crashes, people are falling out of love with the automobile. Today we NEED an interstate high-speed passenger rail system in America.

[@andywolan]

Agreed. LA gambled on just using roads to meet the people's transportation needs and now the roads are at capacity.

[@pistolshrimp6252]

Man, I wish I had as much fun chasing unicorns too

[@almostfm]

A nationwide high-speed rail system is just not practical. The population density isn't high enough to justify it, and for transcontinental trips, it's much faster to fly. And if you're taking the trip to take a road trip, it wouldn't be inconvenient as hell to see the things you want to see, as opposed to what the railroad wants you to see. A regional system in the northeast is doable because of the passenger numbers.

[@zeeteavathepipe3184]

@@almostfm But a fast (not high speed) rail sytsem from Chicago to New York will be viable?

[@almostfm]

@@zeeteavathepipe3184 I don't really think it would be. A line like that would normally see a lot of business traffic, but if you could average 150 mph, you're looking at over five hours (and you'd lose an hour going east). For a business traveller, that's basically burning half a day each way. With flights being damned cheap, it really doesn't make sense financially or from the standpoint of time.

[@junkboxxxxxx]

🌎🔫

[@robsemail]

I think we've seen it borne out that those studies he talks about were wrong. It was not at all a benefit to business for the heavy through traffic to be taken out of the city center. The freeways were a big part of killing downtown in many cities. The studies were asking the wrong questions, because although they were correct that through traffic wasn't interested in stopping at the downtown Rx store, turns out that even the locals will use a freeway if it's the easiest way to get where they're going. It might have been smarter to build the freeways a few miles away from the cities, with well-paved street connections to downtown business districts. That might have tipped the freeway's balance of convenience in favor of through traffic, away from local. Probably more local traffic would have remained on the older, now less-congested routes if the new highway wasn't so damned easy to access.