“Trucking: A Lifeline Across America" at the German American Heritage Center -- November 24.
Sunday, November 24, 2 p.m.
German American Heritage Center, 712 West Second Street, Davenport IA
On November 24, Dave Meier, curator for the Iowa 80 Trucking Museum in Walcott, Iowa, will share local history, industry connections, innovation, and engineering feats of the last century in Trucking: A Lifeline Across America, a program in the German American Heritage Center's popular "Kaffee und Kuchen" series boasting discussion on trucking in America through the years and the impact of the Interstate Highway System.
The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, or the Eisenhower Interstate System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. The system extends throughout the contiguous United States and has routes in Hawaii, Alaska, and Puerto Rico.
In the 20th century, the United States Congress began funding roadways through the Federal Aid Road Act of 1916, and started an effort to construct a national road grid with the passage of the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1921. In 1926, the United States Numbered Highway System was established, creating the first national road numbering system for cross-country travel. The roads were state-funded and maintained, and there were few national standards for road design. United States Numbered Highways ranged from two-lane country roads to multi-lane freeways. After Dwight D. Eisenhower became president in 1953, his administration developed a proposal for an interstate highway system, eventually resulting in the enactment of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956.
Unlike the earlier United States Numbered Highway System, the interstates were designed to be all freeways, with nationally unified standards for construction and signage. While some older freeways were adopted into the system, most of the routes were completely new. In dense urban areas, the choice of routing destroyed many well-established neighborhoods, often intentionally as part of a program of "urban renewal." In the two decades following the 1956 Highway Act, the construction of the freeways displaced one million people, and as a result of the many freeway revolts during this era, several planned Interstates were abandoned or re-routed to avoid urban cores.
Construction of the original Interstate Highway System was proclaimed complete in 1992, despite deviations from the original 1956 plan and several stretches that did not fully conform with federal standards. The construction of the Interstate Highway System cost approximately $114 billion (equivalent to $618 billion in 2023). The system has continued to expand and grow as additional federal funding has provided for new routes to be added, and many future Interstate Highways are currently either being planned or under construction.
With the presentation also showcasing the trucks on display at the Iowa 80 Trucking Museum and local history about the Iowa 80 Truckstop, Trucking: A Lifeline Across America will be presented at Davenport's German American Heritage Center on November 24, with refreshments served at 1:30 p.m. and the program beginning at 2 p.m. Admission to this "Kaffee und Kuchen" event is free for Heritage Center members and $5 for non-members, and more information is available by calling (563)322-8844 and visiting GAHC.org.
