I just returned from a trip to Hilton Head, South Carolina where family tradition has us gather for Christmas every couple of years. I know they aren’t perfect, and there are not necessarily an unmitigated good, but I wanted to take a moment to appreciate our Interstate highway system. What a remarkable piece of work. That a sleep-deprived schmuck like me can barrel across a third of the continent while my family snoozes at my side is kind of breathtaking when you really stop to think about it. And I more or less take it for granted.
I’ll let Louis CK speak to this phenomenon (salty language):
They are indeed a marvel…….those of us who are a bit senior to you recall days when all we had except in very major metropolitan areas were two lane highways, going through every town (incuding around every town square). It is true, though, that the ability to bypass all that at high speed has caused us to loose a bit of an apreciation for the “human feel” of the landscape.
about 1973 one of the big accomplishments was the new 4 lanes US 31 section around Argos and the one lane bridge.