NATION-WIDE ACTIVITY ON THE INTERSTATE SYSTEM

From coast to coast and from border to border in all of the States

large-scale construction of the Interstate system is under way, as
evidenced by these representative photographs.

In some instances pictures show facilities newly opened to traffic
but most of them are typical of construction jobs that are currently
under way. (No pictures from Alaska or Hawaii are shown inas-
much as the Interstate System does not involve these States).

The pictorial review of this work is interrupted in the center of
the book by a map of the Interstate system on which is shown the
status of the program as of June 30, 1959. Separate symbols are
used to indicate sections on which:

a) Plans are being prepared

b) Right of way is being acquired, and

c) Construction is under way or completed.
Approximately 11% of the 41,000 miles officially designated
National System of Interstate and Defense will be in urban areas.
In accordance with the results of engineering, traffic and cost
studies, approximately 30,000 miles of the total 41,000 miles will
be constructed on new locations, leaving some 11,000 miles that
will be along existing highway routes. Of the 11,000 miles, some
2,000 miles consist of toll roads that coincide with the routing of the
Interstate system and are included as an official part of it by

mutual agreement of the respective State and Federal authorities.
The remaining approximate 9,000 miles, generally must undergo
almost complete reconstruction and improvement to meet the
traffic needs of the Interstate system.

Progress in a dozen selected larger cities also is shown on two
pages following the map. Slightly more than forty percent of the
Interstate system funds are earmarked for the construction of free-
ways serving urban areas where congestion is acute and rapidly
growing worse. Approximately half of the motor travel in this
country occurs in urban areas. These areas also supply approxi-
mately half of the revenue that is provided for building and main-
taining highways. Engineering techniques are used to determine
whether traffic desires to go through or around a city, or whether a
combination of such routings is needed to serve the needs.

These considerations are combined with engineering and right of
way cost studies together with other benefits and impacts on the
locality to dictate the location and type of facility that is con-
structed.

The final page in this section contains a National summary of the
progress by the State highway departments on the Federal-aid
programs in tabular form, as reported by the U. S. Bureau of
Public Roads at the close of the 1959 fiscal year.