America's HighwaysAmerica's national road system makes it possible to drive coast to coast

America's Highways

America's national road system makes it possible to drive coast to coast. From the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west is a distance of more than four thousand kilo meters. Or you could drive more than two thousand kilometers and go from the Canadian border south to the Mexican border.

You can drive these distances on wide, safe roads that have no traffic signals and no stop signs. In fact, if you do not have to stop for gasoline or sleep, you can drive almost anywhere in the United States without stopping at all.

This is possible because of the Interstate Highway System. This system has almost seventy thousand kilometers of roads. It crosses more than fifty-five thousand bridges and can be found in forty-nine of America's fifty states.

No roads existed when early settlers arrived in the area of North America that would be come the United States. Most settlers built their homes near the ocean or along major rivers. This made transportation easy. A few early roads were built near some cities. Travel on land was often difficult because there was no road system in most areas.

One of the first roads was built to help these farmers return home after they sold their wood. It began as nothing more than a path used by Native Americans. American soldiers helped make this path into an early road. The new road extended from the city of Nashville, in Tennessee to the city of Natchez in the southern state of Louisiana. It was called the Natchez Trace.

The Natchez Trace was called a road. Yet it was not what we understand a road to be. It was just a cleared path through the forest. It was used by people walking, or riding a horse or in a wagon pulled by horses.

In 1806, President Thomas Jefferson signed legislation that approved money for building a road to make it easier to travel west. Work began on the first part of the road in Cumberland in the eastern state of Maryland. When finished, the road reached all the way to the city of Saint Louis which would become the middle of a western state. Missouri. It was named the National Road.

The National Road was similar to the Natchez Trace. It followed a path made by American Indians. Work began in 1811. It was not finished until about 1833. The National Road was used by thousands of people who moved toward the west. These people paid money to use the road This money was used to repair the road.

Now, the old National Road is part of United States Highway Forty. By the 1920s, High way Forty stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. You can still see signs that say "National Road" along the side of parts of it. Several statues were placed along this road to honor the women who moved west over the National Road in the 1800s.

In 1900, it still was difficult to travel by road. Nothing extended from the eastern United States to the extreme western part of the country.

Several people wanted to see a road built all the way across the country. Carl Fisher was a man who had ideas and knew how to act on them. Mister Fisher built the famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway where car races still take place.

In 1912, Carl Fisher began working on his idea to build a coast-to-coast highway using crushed rocks. He called this dream the Coast-to-Coast Rock Highway.

Carl Fisher asked many people to give money for the project. One of these men was Henry Joy, the president of the Packard Motor Car Company. Mister Joy agreed, but suggested another name for the highway. He said the road should be named after President Abraham Lincoln. He said it should be called the Lincoln Highway.

Everyone involved with the project agreed to the new name. The Lincoln Highway began in the east in New York City's famous Times Square. It ended in the west in Lincoln Park in San

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