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Today in Interstate History

President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

September 21, 1959

President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed into law the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1959, which included a one-cent increase in the gasoline tax to keep construction going on the Interstate System. While concerned that the increase was less than he had proposed (see January 19), Eisenhower "approved it in order to avoid a serious disruption of the highway program with its attendant adverse effects on State finances, highway contractors and workers, and the economy generally." Eisenhower also discussed the ongoing study led by retired U.S. Army Major General J.S. Bragdon to examine how the Interstate System was being administered (see January 23 and March 16).