Eisenhower Urges Congress to Create and Finance a Modern Interstate Highway System (1955)

Date: February 22, 1955

Created By: Dwight D. Eisenhower

Original or Replica: Original

Era: The Presidency, The Interstate Highway System

Collection: Eisenhower Presidential Library

Citations: White House Office, Office of the Press Secretary to the President, Box 4, Press Releases Feb. 8-March 14, 1955; NAID #16857605

In this February 22, 1955 message to Congress, President Dwight D. Eisenhower calls for a major national program to modernize America’s highways, with particular emphasis on developing the Interstate Highway System. Eisenhower argues that the existing road network was increasingly inadequate for the nation’s growing population, economy, and automobile traffic. He identifies several reasons for immediate action, including the enormous human and economic cost of highway accidents, growing traffic congestion, increasing vehicle use, and the importance of highways to national defense and emergency evacuation in the event of an atomic attack.

Eisenhower describes highway construction as a shared responsibility among federal, state, and local governments but argues that the federal government should assume primary responsibility for completing a modern Interstate network. Drawing on studies by the President’s Advisory Committee on a National Highway Program and the Bureau of Public Roads, he outlines a proposed ten-year modernization program estimated to require approximately $101 billion in total highway expenditures. The administration recommended substantial federal investment in the Interstate System as well as continued support for primary, secondary, urban, and forest highways.

Eisenhower also addresses how the program should be financed, arguing that highway users should ultimately provide the necessary revenue and expressing support for special bond financing. He concludes that the reports before Congress provided the foundation for a comprehensive national highway program capable of producing a modern, safe, and efficient transportation system.