(Noun). A substantial Highway (US) often, but not always, crossing state boundaries.
Interstates were originally constructed by the Federal Highway Administration as part of the Strategic Highway Network for national defense/defence.
In 1919 a military convoy was dispatched from Washington DC to drive to San Francisco to test the road infrastructure en route. It took 62 days for the convoy to reach its destination due to the appalling condition of America’s roads. Dwight D. Eisenhower, then a 28 year-old lieutenant, was on the convoy.
37 years later, as President, Eisenhower signed the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 into law which financed a 10-year, $100 billion program, which would build 40,000 miles of divided highways linking all American cities with a population of greater than 50,000.
The resulting interstates have grown and now have multiple lanes in both directions. When I say multiple, I mean MULTIPLE!. The I-10 running between Katy, Texas and nearby downtown Houston has, wait for it, 22 lanes and is 26 lanes wide in sections if you include the Feeder Roads (US) running in parallel. (Feeder roads are also known in some parts of the USA as frontage roads or service roads just to complicate matters further).
Similar meaning: Highway (US), Freeway (US), Motorway (UK)
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