Bureau of the Budget Recommends Eisenhower Approve the Federal-Aid Highway Act Creating the Interstate Highway System (1956)

Date: June 28, 1956

Created By: Roger Jones

Original or Replica: Original

Era: The Interstate Highway System, The Presidency

Collection: Eisenhower Presidential Library

Citations: White House Office: Record Officer Reports to President on Pending Legislation, Box 77, Appr. 6/29/1956 to amend and supplement Federal Aid Road Act . . .; NAID #16857618

This June 28, 1956 memorandum from the Bureau of the Budget recommends that President Dwight D. Eisenhower approve legislation establishing a major expansion of the federal highway program. The bill authorized a 13-year Federal-aid highway construction program beginning July 1, 1956, with completion of the Interstate Highway System as its central objective. The document emphasizes that the new system would connect major American cities and be constructed according to modern highway standards.

The memorandum outlines approximately $24.8 billion for Interstate highways and another $1.85 billion for primary, secondary, and urban highway systems. For Interstate projects, the federal government would generally pay 90 percent of construction costs while states contributed 10 percent. The legislation would finance the federal share through new or increased highway-related taxes, particularly taxes on gasoline and tires. It also provided funding for road construction in national parks and forests. The document notes that several federal departments and agencies supported the legislation or had no objection to its approval, and the Bureau of the Budget formally recommends that Eisenhower sign it. The memorandum captures the final administrative review of legislation that would create one of Eisenhower’s most significant domestic achievements: the modern Interstate Highway System.