click to sign up for email alerts

Today in Interstate History

President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

September 20, 1955

President Dwight D. Eisenhower, speaking at the annual convention of the American Automobile Association in Washington, D.C., less than two months after Congress had killed legislative proposals for an Interstate System (see July 27), stressed the continued need for such a highway network. He emphasized how a modernized Interstate System was one of the America's "great national needs" and urged attendees to lobby for its enactment. "Motoring convenience, safe driving and national security must not be checked by a lack of roads," Eisenhower asserted. "I hope all of you will continue to speak up again and again on a highway adequate for modern living."