Interstate 50

The interstate highway system, the largest public works program in history, has had an enormous impact on the USA. It has positively influenced economic growth, reduced traffic deaths and injuries, provided substantial benefits to users, and been a crucial factor in the nation's defense. On June 29, 1956, President Eisenhower signed the Federal Aid-Highway Act authorizing the interstate highway system (later formally named the Dwight D. Eisenhower System of Interstate and Defense Highways). The Act authorized 41,000 miles of high quality highways that were to tie the nation together.