The USA a half-century ago was a place where people seldom ventured far from home. When they did, they drove on narrow, two-lane roads that moved people and goods slowly.
With the stroke of a pen 50 years ago today, President Eisenhower began to change all that. He launched the interstate highway system, a giant public works project that would speed travel and the distribution of goods, make driving safer, fuel the growth of suburbs and link far-flung regions of the nation.