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

H. Pike Oliver focuses on master-planned communities. He is co-author of Transforming the Irvine Ranch: Joan Irvine, William Pereira, Ray Watson, and THE BIG PLAN, published by Routledge in 2022.

Early in his career, Pike 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. For the next three decades, he was involved in master-planned development on the Irvine Ranch in Southern California, as well as other properties in western North America and abroad.

Beginning in 2009, Pike taught real estate development at Cornell University and directed the undergraduate program in Urban and Regional Studies. He relocated to Seattle in 2013 and, from 2016 to 2020, served as a lecturer in the Runstad Department of Real Estate at the University of Washington, where he also served as its chair.

Pike graduated from San Francisco State University's urban studies and planning program and received a master's degree in urban planning from UCLA. He is a member of the American Planning Association and the Urban Land Institute and a founder and emeritus member of the California Planning Roundtable.

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