Convoy celebrates 50 years of interstate highways

The American Trucking Associations went on the road last month, literally, as a part of a cross-country convoy commemorating the 50th anniversary of the US interstate highway system. The convoy is a re-enactment of the 1919 military convoy that inspired President Dwight Eisenhower to propose the creation of America's interstate highway system.

The commemorative convoy was set to begin June 16 in San Francisco and end on June 29 in Washington, D.C. ATA's convoy participation marks just one event in a year-long series of proceedings to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the interstate highway.

The nearly 50,000 miles of the interstate highway system have enabled the trucking industry to become the economic success it is today - the industry that moves the US economy, according to the ATA. When Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act and Congress established the Highway Trust Fund, some 120,000 tractor trailers operated on US highways, compared with the 2 million that travel today's interstate roadways. Today, trucking hauls nearly 70% of all freight moved across the US and more than 80% of US communities depend solely on trucking for delivery of goods and products because of the interstate highway system, according to the organization.