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Few domestic projects have reshaped the United States as profoundly as the Interstate Highway System 鈥� a network championed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower that transformed how Americans live, work and move.

鈥淐ommerce crowds our rivers, our rails, our skies, our highways,鈥� Eisenhower said in his 1957 inaugural address after winning reelection the year before 鈥� a signal of the growing strain on the nation鈥檚 transportation network.

While many point to Eisenhower鈥檚 exposure to Germany鈥檚 Autobahn during World War II, his push for a modern highway system began decades earlier.

In 1919, as a young Army officer, . The cross-country trip took 62 days over rutted, often impassable roads 鈥� an experience he later said left a lasting impression about the need for reliable national infrastructure.

Highways were 鈥渁s necessary to defense as they are to our national economy and personal safety,鈥� Eisenhower said when he signed the .

The impact was immediate and far-reaching.

CBS 草莓传媒 anchor Walter Cronkite later said Eisenhower 鈥渃hanged the entire face of America.鈥�

A 1956 promotional film by Ford Motor Company captured the optimism of the era: 鈥淭his is the American dream of freedom on wheels 鈥� an automotive age traveling on superhighways.鈥�

The new highways fueled suburban expansion, making it easier for families to move beyond city centers to places like Des Plaines, Illinois, near Chicago, and Richardson, Texas, near Dallas. Sun Belt states saw rapid population growth as the network spread.

But the system also came at a cost.

Local governments used eminent domain to build highways through established communities, displacing an estimated 475,000 households between 1957 and 1977. Critics say some routes deepened racial and economic divides, while the rise of car travel contributed to the decline of public transportation.

The Interstate system itself reflects a carefully designed grid. The numbering plan, developed in 1957 by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, assigns even numbers to east-west routes and odd numbers to north-south highways. Major corridors like Interstate 95 carry one- or two-digit numbers, while auxiliary routes 鈥� such as the Capital Beltway, Interstate 495 鈥� use three digits. Some regions include split routes, like I-35E and I-35W in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Today, the system spans nearly 49,000 miles. It took about 36 years to complete and cost the equivalent of roughly $634 billion in today鈥檚 dollars 鈥� less than half of the Pentagon鈥檚 proposed budget for next year.

Now, decades later, the challenge is maintaining what Eisenhower built.

鈥淲e鈥檙e living off the legacy of past investments,鈥� said DePaul University transportation professor Joe Schwieterman. 鈥淏ridges need repair, and parts of the system need to be expanded.鈥�

, financed by taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel. But those tax rates have not been raised since 1993, and the Congressional Budget Office warns the fund could fall short of meeting its obligations by 2028 without changes.

Efforts to add tolls to existing Interstates face additional hurdles. Restrictions in the original 1956 law make widespread tolling difficult, though some regions have added express lanes, including on Interstate 495 in the Washington area.

Even so, the system remains central to daily life. More than a quarter of all miles driven in the U.S. take place on Interstates.

And here in the Washington region, one of the system鈥檚 final major projects 鈥� the Woodrow Wilson Bridge over the Potomac River, completed in 2009 鈥� stands as a reminder that Eisenhower鈥檚 vision is not just history.

It is infrastructure the country is still relying on 鈥� and still struggling to sustain.

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