Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956

Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956

Other short titles	Highway Construction Act National Interstate and Defense Highways Act
Long title	An act to amend and supplement the Federal Aid Road Act approved July 11, 1916, to authorize appropriations for continuing the construction of highways; to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 to provide additional revenue from taxes on motor fuel, tires, and trucks and buses; and for other purposes.
Acronyms (colloquial)	FAHA
Nicknames	Highway Revenue Act of 1956
Enacted by	the 84th United States Congress
Effective	June 29, 1956
Citations
Public law	84-627
Statutes at Large	70 Stat. 374
Codification
Titles amended	16 U.S.C.: Conservation 23 U.S.C.: Highways
U.S.C. sections created	16 U.S.C. ch. 2, subch. I § 503 23 U.S.C. ch. 1
Legislative history
Introduced in the House as H.R. 10660 by George Fallon (D–MD) on April 19, 1956 Passed the House on April 27, 1956 (388–19) Passed the Senate on May 29, 1956 (41–39) Reported by the joint conference committee on June 22, 1956; agreed to by the House on June 22, 1956 (adopted) and by the Senate on June 22, 1956 (89–1) Signed into law by President Dwight Eisenhower on June 29, 1956

The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, popularly known as the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act (Public Law 84-627), was enacted on June 29, 1956, when President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the bill into law. With an original authorization of US$25 billion for the construction of 41,000 miles (66,000 km) of the Interstate Highway System supposedly over a 10-year period, it was the largest public works project in American history through that time.

The addition of the term "defense" in the act's title was for two reasons: First, some of the original cost was diverted from defense funds. Secondly, most U.S. Air Force bases have a direct link to the system. The purpose was to provide access in order to defend them during an attack. All of these links were in the original plans, although some, such as Wright Patterson were not connected up in the 1950s, but only somewhat later.

The money for the Interstate Highway and Defense Highways was handled in a Highway Trust Fund that paid for 90 percent of highway construction costs with the states required to pay the remaining 10 percent. It was expected that the money would be generated through new taxes on fuel, automobiles, trucks, and tires. As a matter of practice, the federal portion of the cost of the Interstate Highway System has been paid for by taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel.

Eisenhower's support of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 can be directly attributed to his experiences in 1919 as a participant in the U.S. Army's first Transcontinental Motor Convoy across the United States on the historic Lincoln Highway, which was the first road across America. The highly publicized 1919 convoy was intended, in part, to dramatize the need for better main highways and continued federal aid. The convoy left the Ellipse south of the White House in Washington, D.C., on July 7, 1919, and headed for Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. From there, it followed the Lincoln Highway to San Francisco. Bridges cracked and were rebuilt, vehicles became stuck in mud and equipment broke, but the convoy was greeted warmly by communities across the country. The convoy reached San Francisco on September 6, 1919.

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