Planning for the Interstate Highway System in the USA

Written By H. Pike Oliver

Beginning during the later years of the Great Depression and continuing during and after World War II, a series of government reports prepared during the Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower administrations led to the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act of 1956 that authorized the construction of a 41,000 mile system of limited-access and grade separated highways that now span the nation.

The key reports created and published between 1939, and 1955, include:

U.S. Bureau of Public Roads (1939). Toll Roads and Free Roads. This document is also available here. 

Interregional Highways Committee (1944). A Report of the National Interregional Highway Committee. This document is also available here.

Federal Works Agency (1949). Highway Needs of the National Defense. This document is also available here.

Commissioner of Public Roads (1954). Needs of the Highway Systems, 1955-84. This document is also available here.

Advisory Committee on a National Highway Program (1955). National Highway Program. This document is also available here.

 

 

H. Pike Oliver

Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, H. Pike Oliver has worked on real estate development strategies and master-planned communities since the early 1970s, including nearly eight years at the Irvine Company. He resided in the City of Irvine for five years in the 1980s and nine years in the 1990s.

As the founder and sole proprietor of URBANEXUS, Oliver works on advancing equitable and sustainable real estate development and natural lands management. He is also an affiliate instructor at the Runstad Department of Real Estate at the University of Washington.

Early in his career, Oliver worked for public agencies, including the California Governor’s Office of Planning and Research where he was a principal contributor to An Urban Strategy for California. Prior to relocating to Seattle in 2013, Oliver taught real estate development at Cornell University and directed the undergraduate program in urban and regional studies. He is a member of the Urban Land Institute, the American Planning Association and a founder and emeritus member of the California Planning Roundtable.

Oliver is a graduate of the urban studies and planning program at San Francisco State University and earned a master’s degree in urban planning at UCLA.

https://urbanexus.com
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