Autoroute, autostrada, autobahn, interstate—wherever in the world they are found, these roads are marvels of engineering and a testament to the transforming power of the automobile during the 20th century. America's multilane highways were not the first to be built—President Eisenhower, who championed the interstate, had observed Germany's Reichsautobahnen, the earliest section of which opened in 1935, and remarked on "the wisdom of broader ribbons across the land." Today in the U.S., there are 158,000 miles of national highway, of which 46,000 miles are part of the interstate highway system. Some $130 billion has been spent on the system since it was begun in 1956.

Related Links
"Creating the Interstate System"