We tend to rip on government programs on this site; but one government program that I adore is the federal interstate infrastructure.  Yesterday we drove from Utah to California on one single road, the I-15.  The road quality, mile marker formats, and on/off-ramps were all very consistent throughout Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and California.

I am especially appreciative of the system in California.  There is a freeway anywhere you want to go.  Many of them are state highways, but are definitely a byproduct of the federal program  Once we got into CA, we took the 15 to the 91 to the 55 to the 405.

This is the brief history as taken from Wikipedia,

“The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly called the Interstate Highway System (or simply, the Interstate System), is a network of limited-access highways (also called freeways or expressways) in the United StatesPresident Dwight D. Eisenhower, who championed its creation. The entire system, as of 2006, has a total length of 46,876 miles (75,440 km),^[1] making it both the largest highway system in the world and the largest public works project in history.^[2] The Interstate Highway System is a subsystem of the National Highway System that is named for .^[update]“

What is interesting is that so many politicians gripe about the amount of CO2 being emitted by automobiles.  But their very interstate program has allowed people to live further and further from work and travel more and more to see friends and family.  The interstates have encouraged driving cars.

I would guess that at least 99% of Americans use the interstates at least once a week.  I am all for my tax dollars going to keep our interstates working well.

Last 3 posts by Eric

• Social Security Finally Bankrupt? - February 4th, 2010
• Business Cliches - January 15th, 2010
• Conan O'Brien - January 12th, 2010