Who knew? All about Maryland's Highways.

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• HIGHWAY SONGS
  Check out this link to hundreds of songs lyrics about the road, the highway, the street, the path to your heart, the wheels on the bus, the hood ornament of your dreams and the journey to true love. In case you weren’t convinced that America has a love affair with the open road, you soon will be!

• Ever wonder how the name “highway” came to be? Early dirt roads in England were created by digging two parallel ditches and throwing the removed earth onto the area between the ditches - thereby elevating it - and creating the “high way.”

• In 1666, Maryland's first road law requires the State's counties to create roads passable by horse or by foot.

• In the early 1800s, private roads are big in Maryland. They're called ‘turnpikes” because of the pike (pole) that was turned to provide access after the fee was paid.

• In 1806, Maryland makes history again when Thomas Jefferson designates the state as home to the nation's first interstate highway, from Cumberland to the Ohio River Valley. It's known today as US 40.

• From 1750 to about 1850, Conestoga Wagons carried the big loads on Maryland’s roads. Some say they were the modern equivalent of today’s tractor trailers.

• The early days of road-building in Maryland included not only log roads and crushed stone, but roads actually built from crushed oyster shells.

• A rule of thumb for builders of macadamized roads in the late 19th century required that the top layer of stones be small enough to fit into a person’s mouth.

• The very first “automobile” – self powered road vehicle - was invented by Nicolas Joseph Cugnot of France in 1769. Yet he remains mostly a forgotten figure to this day, because his steam-powered vehicle was not as practical as the gasoline-powered cars Daimler and Benz pioneered over 100 years later.

• The word “automobile” was coined by the French, since “horseless carriage” characterized the new vehicle mostly by what it was not.

• At the dawn of the 20th century, farmers and bicyclists formed an alliance to promote better roads throughout Maryland.

• The greatest natural challenge to the health of Maryland's roads is one of humankind's most fundamental needs – water.

• Maryland’s first paved state road – US Route 1 – was known as “Billboard Boulevard” in the 1930s, with an average of 39 billboards per mile.

• In World War I, Corporal Dwight Eisenhower was part of a convoy that had great difficulty traversing the country. This experience was credited with giving him the idea for today's interstate highway system. His later experience in World War II pursuing the German Army across the countryside by using the Autobahn convinced him of the value of four-lane highways.

• In 1922, Maryland began construction on its first road built specifically for the automobile, nearly 40 years after the first successful model of the modern car was patented.

• “America's Backbone,” otherwise known as US 50, spanning from Ocean City, Maryland to Sacramento, California, is one of the longest highways in the United States.

• The Chesapeake Bay Bridge is so high above the water (18 stories) that at least one Maryland hypnotist specializes in helping those crossing it to overcome their fear.

• When President John F. Kennedy attended the opening of I-95 in Maryland in 1963, it was the only time a U.S. president has attended the opening of an interstate highway.

• Henry Ford is famous for his Model T. But the assembly production process he championed changed America even more than his cars.

• In 1957 when the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel opened, it was credited with removing 40 percent of truck traffic from Baltimore streets.
  
  
• The Baltimore Beltway was completed in 1962 – the first beltway constructed under the 1956 Highway Act – and a model for many large cities nationwide.
  
  
• Although SHA roadways account for only 17 percent of Maryland's highway mileage, they carry 67 percent of the total vehicle miles of travel (VMT) in Maryland.

America’s Interstate Highway System

Over half a century ago and with little fanfare, Dwight D. Eisenhower signed legislation from his Bethesda Naval Hospital bed establishing the Interstate Highway System. While the ailment that occasioned his hospital visit was of little long term consequence, the same cannot be said of the bill he signed into law in 1956.

Today, the colossal engineering undertaking that began with the signing of that legislation – what we know as the U.S. Interstate Highway System – has:

• Put virtually all the people of our nation within a few days’ drive of all the other people in our nation, increasing travel options and convenience.

• Boosted our economy, forever changing the way we move people and freight. It has facilitated international trade, sparked new categories of tourism, and enabled people to expand their range of employment while keeping in touch with family and friends.

• Stretched the link between home and jobs, and redefined the relationship between urban and rural America.

Today, many take our interstate highway system for granted.

As of 2006, over two-thirds of the people in our nation are too young to have ever experienced a time without the interstate highway system. Not only have they grown up with interstate highways as a natural part of their lives, but they no longer see it – if they ever did – as the “open road” that spurred a generation of novels and films.

50+ Fascinating Facts About the Interstate Highway System

• An interstate highway system was first considered in the 1930s.

• President Roosevelt expressed interest in the idea as a way of providing jobs.

• President Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 on June 29, 1956 in a hospital room, where he was recovering from an illness. The signed act created today's interstate system.

• Besides being designed to support automobile and heavy truck traffic, interstate highways are also designed for use in military and civil defense operations within the United States, particularly troop movements.

• The original name was the “National System of Interstate and Defense Highways.” In October 1990, President Bush signed legislation changing it to the “Dwight D. Eisenhower System of Interstate and Defense Highways.”

• The total miles of the interstate system are over 46,837.

• The longest interstate is I-90, which runs from Seattle, Washington to Boston, Massachusetts, a distance of 3,020.54 miles.

• The second longest is I-80, which covers the 2,907 miles between New York City and San Francisco. The shortest interstate route segment is 1-95 in the District of Columbia which is 0.11 mile long.

• Interstates 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 35, 40, 70, 75, 80, 90, 94 and 95 are more than 1,000 miles long.

• The highest Interstate route number is I-990 north of Buffalo, NY. The lowest is I-4 across Florida.

• I-95 was the most expensive route, costing $8 billion. It also goes through the largest number of states; 16.

• New York has the largest number of routes; 29.

• The only state without any interstate routes is Alaska.

• There are three in Hawaii (H-1, H-2, and H-3).

• Over 5,551 bridges have been built.

• There are 14,750 interchanges (approximately)

• There are 82 tunnels.

• Alabama had a unique solution in order to finance a bridge across the Tombigbee River. They held a rooster auction. The auction netted nearly $250,000, but many people didn't follow through with their commitments and the construction of the bridge had to be delayed three years while additional funding was found.

• East-west interstate route numbers end in an even number; north-south routes end in an odd number.

• Two-digit interstate highways are numbered according to direction and location. Highways running north-south are odd numbered, while highways running east-west are even numbered. The lowest numbers are in the west and in the south.

• Three-digit interstate highway numbers represent beltways or loops, attached to a primary interstate highway (represented by the last two numbers of the beltway's number). Washington D.C.’s beltway is numbered I-495, because its parent highway is I-95.

• If the first digit of a three digit interstate route number is odd, it is a spur into a city. If it is even, it goes through or around a city and reconnects to the main highway.

• Interstates carry about 60,000 people per route-mile a day, 26 times the amount of all other roads, and 22 times the amount of rail passenger services. Over the past 40 years, that's the equivalent of a trip to the moon for every person in California, New York, Texas, and New Jersey combined.

• The last link, Interstate 105 in Los Angeles, was not completed until 1993.

• The interstate sign itself measures 36 inches high and is 36 inches wide for two-digit interstates, or 45 inches for three-digit interstates.

• The original projected cost of the interstate system was $37.62 billion in 1958. That number increased by $90 billion to $128 billion in 1991.

• The initial cost estimate for the interstate system was $25 billion over 12 years; it ended up costing $114 billion, taking 35 years to complete.

• In Vinita, Oklahoma, a McDonald's restaurant is built over the top of Interstate 44. It goes from one side of the interstate to the other, passing over the interstate. Customers can sit inside and eat while traffic drives beneath them.

• In Kearney, Nebraska, the Great Platte River Road Archway Museum is built over the top of Interstate 80. The 1,500-ton structure spans 308 feet across the interstate and houses a museum dedicated to frontier culture.

• In Reno, Nevada, a Walgreen' s store is on top of a segment of Interstate I-80 downtown.

• In Newton, Massachusetts, a Star Market supermarket is built over the top of Interstate 90. Traffic reporters refer to this point on the highway as the “Star Market overpass.”

• In Newton, Massachusetts, a Sheraton hotel is built over the top of Interstate 90.

• In Boston, Massachusetts, the Prudential Tower in downtown Boston is built over the top of Interstate 90.

• The Eisenhower Memorial Tunnel (Interstate 70) in Clear Creek and Summit counties in Colorado, is 11,012 feet (east) and 11,158 (west) above sea level. That’s the highest interstate elevation.

• The lowest elevation is I-8 in El Centro, California, at 52 feet below sea level.

• The interstate connects 45 of the 50 state capitals, including the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C.

• The five state capitals not directly served by the interstate systems are Juneau, AK; Dover, DE; Jefferson City, MO; Carson City, NV; and Pierre, SD.

• In 1972, there was a count of 1,214 rest areas along the interstate system. An exact count of rest areas hasn't been available since then, but the current number is not expected to differ significantly from the 1972 figure.

• Interstates make up less than 1 percent of the total U.S. highway mileage, but the interstates carry over 24 percent of travel, including 41 percent of total truck miles traveled.

• There are 21 “secret” interstate routes. They are federally maintained and adhere to the standards of any other signed interstate highway, but are officially part of the Eisenhower Interstate System only on paper.

• In modern history, France was the first Western nation to begin building a system of national highways (1716).

• Americans traveled 667 billion miles on the interstates in the year 2000.

• There is an average of nearly three million tons of concrete in a mile of Interstate.

• To avoid duplication within a state, prefixes are used for the three-digit numbers. For example, I-80 runs through three cities in a state, so the routes in those cities would be numbered I-280, I-480 and I‑680.

• For spur routes into three cities, the routes would be numbered I-180 and I-580. This system is not carried across state lines. As a result, two cities in different states along I-80 may each have circumferential beltways numbered I-280 or spur routes numbered I-180.

• There is also a system for numbering interstate interchanges, also known as exits. States do this numbering and can choose between two methods:
  
  The consecutive numbering system starts at the most western or southern point on each interstate route, and interchanges are numbered consecutively (so the first one is interchange #1).
  
  The milepost system numbers the interchange according to the miles counted, starting at the most western or southern point. An interchange occurring between mileposts 4 and 5 would be designated interchange #4.

• A widespread, but false, urban legend states that one out of every five miles of the Interstate Highway System must be built straight and flat, so as to be usable by aircraft during times of war. However, it was the Germans in World War II that used the Autobahns for just such a purpose.

• The construction of interstates accounted for 82 percent of the total cost. Other costs included right-of-way acquisition and preliminary engineering.