VOICE ONE:
This is Sarah Long.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Steve Ember with the VOA Special English programEXPLORATIONS. Several years ago a first time visitor to the UnitedStates was asked what he liked best about the country. Heimmediately said, “I love your roads. You can drive a car veryquickly anywhere.” Today we tell about the history of the Americannational road system.
((THEME))
VOICE ONE:
In the United States it is possible to drive more thanfour-thousand kilometers from the East Coast on the Atlantic Oceanto the West Coast on the Pacific Ocean. You can also drive more thantwo-thousand kilometers from near the Canadian border south to theMexican border.
You can drive these distances onwide, safe roads that have no traffic signals and no stop signs. Infact, if you did not have to stop for gasoline or sleep, you coulddrive almost anywhere in the United States without stopping at all.
This is possible because of the Interstate Highway system. Thissystem has almost seventy-thousand kilometers of roads. It crossesmore than fifty-five thousand bridges and can be found in forty-nineof America’s fifty states.
The Interstate Highway system is usually two roads, one in eachdirection, separated by an area that is planted with grass andtrees. Each road holds two lines of cars that can travel at speedsbetween one-hundred and one-hundred twenty kilometers an hour. TheInterstate Highway system is only a small part of the huge system ofroads in the United States.
VOICE TWO:
To understand the Interstate Highway system, it is helpful tounderstand the history of roads. Roads in most countries were firstbuilt to permit armies to travel from one part of the country toanother to fight against an invader.
The ancient Romans build roads over most of Europe to permittheir armies to move quickly from one place to another. People whotraded goods began using these roads for business. Good roads helpedthem to move their goods faster from one area to another.
No roads existed when early settlers arrived in the area of NorthAmerica that would become the United States. Most settlers builttheir homes near the ocean or along major rivers. This madetransportation easy. A few early roads were built near some cities.Travel on land was often difficult because there was no road systemin most areas.
VOICE ONE:
In Seventy-Eighty-Five, farmers in the Ohio River Valley usedrivers to take cut trees to the southern city of New Orleans. It waseasier to walk or ride a horse home than to try to go by boat up theriver.
One of the first roads was built to help these farmers returnhome after they sold their wood. It began as nothing more than apath used by native Americans. American soldiers helped make thispath into an early road. The new road extended from the city ofNashville, in Tennessee to the city of Natchez in the southern stateof Louisiana. It was called the Natchez Trace.
You can still follow about seven-hundred kilometers of theNatchez Trace. Today, the road is a beautiful National Park. Ittakes the traveler though forests that look much the same as theydid two-hundred years ago. You can still see a few of the buildingsin which early travelers slept overnight.
VOICE TWO:
The Natchez Trace was called a road. Yet it was not what weunderstand a road to be. It was just a cleared path through theforest. It was used by people walking, or riding a horse or in awagon pulled by horses.
In Eighteen-Oh-Six, President Thomas Jefferson signed legislationthat approved money for building a road to make it easier to travelwest. Work began on the first part of the road in Cumberland in theeastern state of Maryland. When finished, the road reached all theway to the city of Saint Louis in what would become themiddle-western state of Missouri. It was named the National Road.
The National Road was similar to the Natchez Trace. It followed apath made by American Indians. Work began in Eighteen-Eleven. It wasnot finished until about Eighteen-Thirty-Three. The National Roadwas used by thousands of people who moved toward the west. Thesepeople paid money to use the road. This money was used to repair theroad.
Now, the old National Road is part of United States HighwayForty. By the Nineteen-Twenties, Highway Forty stretched from theAtlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. You can still see signs thatsay “National Road” along the side of parts of it. Several statueswere placed along this road to honor the women who moved west overthe National Road in the Eighteen-hundreds.
((MUSIC BRIDGE))
VOICE ONE:
In Nineteen-Hundred, it still was difficult to travel by road.Nothing extended from the eastern United States to the extremewestern part of the country.
Several people wanted to see a road built all the way across thecountry. Carl Fisher was a man who had ideas and knew how to act onthem. Mister Fisher built the famous Indianapolis Motor Speedwaywhere car races still take place.
In Nineteen-Twelve, Carl Fisher began working on his idea tobuild a coast to coast highway using crushed rocks. He called thisdream…the Coast to Coast Rock Highway.
VOICE TWO:
Carl Fisher asked many people to give money for the project. Oneof these men was Henry Joy, the president of the Packard Motor CarCompany. Mister Joy agreed, but suggested another name for thehighway. He said the road should be named after President AbrahamLincoln. He said it should be called the “Lincoln Highway.”
Everyone involved with the project agreed to the new name. TheLincoln Highway began in the east in New York City’s famous TimesSquare. It ended in the west in Lincoln Park in San Francisco,California. The Lincoln Highway was completed in aboutNineteen-Thirty-Three.
VOICE ONE:
Later, the federal government decided to assign each highway inthe country its own number. Numbers were easier to remember thannames. The Lincoln Highway became Highway Thirty for most of itslength.
Today, you can still follow much of the Lincoln Highway. Itpasses through small towns and large cities. This makes it a slowbut interesting way to travel. Highway Thirty still begins in NewYork and ends near San Francisco. And it is still remembered as thefirst coast-to-coast highway.
((MUSIC BRIDGE))
VOICE TWO:
In Nineteen-Nineteen, a young army officer named DwightEisenhower took part in the first crossing of the United States byarmy vehicles. The vehicles left Washington D-C and drove to SanFrancisco. It was not a good trip. The vehicles had problems withthick mud, ice and mechanical difficulties. It took the Americanarmy vehicles sixty-two days to reach San Francisco.
Dwight Eisenhower believed the United States needed a highwaythat would aid in the defense of the country. He believed the nationneeded a road system that would permit military vehicles to travelquickly from one coast to the other.
In Nineteen-Fifty-Six, Dwight Eisenhower was president of theUnited States. He signed the legislation that created the FederalInterstate Highway system. Work was begun almost immediately.
VOICE ONE:
Building such an interstate highway system was a major task. Manyproblems had to be solved. The highway passed through differentareas that were wetlands, mountains and deserts.
It was very difficult to build the system. Yet lessons learnedwhile building it influenced the building of highways around theworld. Today, the interstate system links every major city in theUnited States. It also links the United States with Canada andMexico.
The Interstate Highway system has been an important part of thenation’s economic growth during the past forty-years. Expertsbelieve that trucks using the system carry about seventy-fivepercent of all products that are sold. Jobs and new businesses havebeen created near the busy Interstate Highways all across the UnitedStates. These include hotels, motels, eating places, gasolinestations and shopping centers.
The highway system has made it possible for people to work in acity and live outside it. And it has made it possible for people totravel easily and quickly from one part of the country to another.
The United States government re-named the Interstate Highwaysystem at the end of the Twentieth Century. Large signs now can beseen along the side of the highway that say, “Eisenhower InterstateSystem.”
((THEME))
VOICE TWO:
This program was written by Paul Thompson. It was directed byCynthia Kirk. Our studio engineer was Mick Shaw. This is SteveEmber.
VOICE ONE:
And this is Sarah Long. Join us again next week for anotherEXPLORATIONS program in Special English on the Voice of America.