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Divided Highways: Building the Interstate Highways, Transforming American Life
Provides a social, political, and technological history of the Interstate Highway System
352 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1997
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
June 5, 2022
I expected Divided Highways to be interesting but possibly a bit on the dry side (we're talking about highway construction, after all), but I thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of it. This is probably the best study of unintended consequences that one could come up with. Lewis manages to praise the engineering marvels of the project while not shying away from the detrimental dimensions of the story.
July 11, 2012
"But engineers had little understanding of, nor did they care about, socioeconomic and environmental considerations that should also be factors in the decision of where to place a highway. The Interstates planned for the center of Boston, across Manhattan, into the center of Chicago posed a series of technical problems of soils and land contours, entrances and exits, and the like; but never the very real human problems of lives disrupted, neighborhoods destroyed, and livelihoods lost" (pg. #134).
"Desperate for any federal help, the mayors had chosen to sell the souls of their cities for the jobs and the temporary boost to the economy that Interstate highway construction brought. But the price federal and state highway planners exacted for those jobs was enormous. Each mile of freeway took twenty-four acres of land; each interchange, eighty acres—acres that might otherwise have contributed to the tax structure of a city. All the while the mayors knew their greatest need was for an integrated system of roads and mass transportation, not just Interstate highways tearing through their cities; yet the fear of losing the ninety percent federal share of the financing—the only substantial help the Eisenhower administration had given them—was so great that they chose to deal with the devil" (pg. #153).
"Americans' infatuation with gasoline savings threatened the very Möbius strip of money on which the Interstate program depended. Without a rising consumption of gasoline, the government could not fund the highways" (pg. #163).
"Across the country engineers had proven their ability to choose routes and build highways. But it was not enough. For all the technocratic expertise that enabled them to build the perfect highway and move automobiles and trucks efficiently, the engineers had been indifferent to human ecology, how the structures they were creating had changed the fundamental relationships between humans and their environment. (The very term, ecology, which Americans had not used much since Thoreau, came into vogue in the 1970s.) Ironically, the Interstate highway program had inspired citizens to take a greater interest in their ecology, a subject they had cared little for until they saw the potential negative side to their reliance on technology. Maps of some cities, especially those in the East, show that the circles of highway are broken in places. Those breaks mark the places where American citizens stopped the highways and changed the rules" (pg. #240).
"No words pass between ourselves and our fellow travelers. We are distant from one another. The individual is made to count for less. Mumford suggests that beneath the comfortable familiarity of this built environment lurks a disturbing alienation and loneliness. There was a time when roads connected with the towns—and even the cities. Each place the road took us to had its own distinctive countless coffee shops, diners, and small restaurants that beckoned to us along the way. Even the curious and vulgar commercial flotsam and jetsam along the highway—a coffee shop shaped like a coffeepot, a chicked restaurant like a chicken, a doughnut shop like a doughnut, a motel in the West shaped like a tepee—represented individuals talking to other individuals. Today, standardization in our highways and in the way we purchase our food and even our gas produces efficiency; but efficiency produces impersonality, loneliness and alienation" (pg. #275).
"As we move faster, we demand wide spaces for travel. Our progress cannot be impeded by the unfamiliar—unfamiliar road markings, signs, lane widths—so through our engineers who serve our desires, we have opted for the familiar. Those were our desires in the 1950s, and they remain the desires of most today. For them we have created what the geographer Joni Seager has called 'a conduit of national blandness,' roads without 'real places … only blurry landscapes'" (pg. #277).
"In the beginning, at least, Kroc placed his franchises along the fringes of cities; customers could reach the nearest McDonald's only by car, or by a perilous walk alongside a service road to an Interstate—a place designers made to be intentionally inhospitable to pedestrians. Careful to make his restaurants inaccessible to those on foot—by the 1960s, it was certainly suspect and even un-American to consider walking anywhere […]" (pg. #284).
"Desperate for any federal help, the mayors had chosen to sell the souls of their cities for the jobs and the temporary boost to the economy that Interstate highway construction brought. But the price federal and state highway planners exacted for those jobs was enormous. Each mile of freeway took twenty-four acres of land; each interchange, eighty acres—acres that might otherwise have contributed to the tax structure of a city. All the while the mayors knew their greatest need was for an integrated system of roads and mass transportation, not just Interstate highways tearing through their cities; yet the fear of losing the ninety percent federal share of the financing—the only substantial help the Eisenhower administration had given them—was so great that they chose to deal with the devil" (pg. #153).
"Americans' infatuation with gasoline savings threatened the very Möbius strip of money on which the Interstate program depended. Without a rising consumption of gasoline, the government could not fund the highways" (pg. #163).
"Across the country engineers had proven their ability to choose routes and build highways. But it was not enough. For all the technocratic expertise that enabled them to build the perfect highway and move automobiles and trucks efficiently, the engineers had been indifferent to human ecology, how the structures they were creating had changed the fundamental relationships between humans and their environment. (The very term, ecology, which Americans had not used much since Thoreau, came into vogue in the 1970s.) Ironically, the Interstate highway program had inspired citizens to take a greater interest in their ecology, a subject they had cared little for until they saw the potential negative side to their reliance on technology. Maps of some cities, especially those in the East, show that the circles of highway are broken in places. Those breaks mark the places where American citizens stopped the highways and changed the rules" (pg. #240).
"No words pass between ourselves and our fellow travelers. We are distant from one another. The individual is made to count for less. Mumford suggests that beneath the comfortable familiarity of this built environment lurks a disturbing alienation and loneliness. There was a time when roads connected with the towns—and even the cities. Each place the road took us to had its own distinctive countless coffee shops, diners, and small restaurants that beckoned to us along the way. Even the curious and vulgar commercial flotsam and jetsam along the highway—a coffee shop shaped like a coffeepot, a chicked restaurant like a chicken, a doughnut shop like a doughnut, a motel in the West shaped like a tepee—represented individuals talking to other individuals. Today, standardization in our highways and in the way we purchase our food and even our gas produces efficiency; but efficiency produces impersonality, loneliness and alienation" (pg. #275).
"As we move faster, we demand wide spaces for travel. Our progress cannot be impeded by the unfamiliar—unfamiliar road markings, signs, lane widths—so through our engineers who serve our desires, we have opted for the familiar. Those were our desires in the 1950s, and they remain the desires of most today. For them we have created what the geographer Joni Seager has called 'a conduit of national blandness,' roads without 'real places … only blurry landscapes'" (pg. #277).
"In the beginning, at least, Kroc placed his franchises along the fringes of cities; customers could reach the nearest McDonald's only by car, or by a perilous walk alongside a service road to an Interstate—a place designers made to be intentionally inhospitable to pedestrians. Careful to make his restaurants inaccessible to those on foot—by the 1960s, it was certainly suspect and even un-American to consider walking anywhere […]" (pg. #284).
August 27, 2007
Too bad I only read one book every couple of weeks. Lewis's "Divided History" is somewhere in between a conventional history of the building of the interstate highway's in the United States and a journalistic account of the builiding of the interstate highway's in the United States. Either way you want to slice it- that's nearly three hundred pages on the building of interstate highway's in the United States. It's a boring book- not just because the subject matter itself, but also because Mr. Lewis has apparently never been west of Denver. Aside from a brief two page write up on the 15 running through Vegas, you would think that the "Interstate Highway System" extends from the Northeast to the Midwest and stops.
I pride myself on not needing a highway to get to or from work, but take perverse pride in living less then two hundred feet from Interstate 5. The interstate system and southern california material culture are intextricably intertwined, though the move to the "freeway" system in Southern California predated the national, federally funded "interstate" system by a couple of decades.
Mostly, I learned from this book that once it got rolling, the Interstate highway project was as formidable a behemoth as the "new deal" ever produced. Ironically the interstate project (and by "interstate highway project" I am referring to the massive federal spending program that was literally entirely responsible for the construction of the interstates everywhere in the United States) was initiated not by Franklin Roosevelt, but by Dwight Eisenhower, who had a sick bed conversion to the cause whilst recooperating from a little light surgery.
Along the way, the Interstate highway project gave sustenance to a generation of civil engineers and bureaucrats (or "technocrats" as Lewis enjoys calling them). There is little to commend this book to the everyday reader- unless that everyday reader is as infatuated with the interstate highway system
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I pride myself on not needing a highway to get to or from work, but take perverse pride in living less then two hundred feet from Interstate 5. The interstate system and southern california material culture are intextricably intertwined, though the move to the "freeway" system in Southern California predated the national, federally funded "interstate" system by a couple of decades.
Mostly, I learned from this book that once it got rolling, the Interstate highway project was as formidable a behemoth as the "new deal" ever produced. Ironically the interstate project (and by "interstate highway project" I am referring to the massive federal spending program that was literally entirely responsible for the construction of the interstates everywhere in the United States) was initiated not by Franklin Roosevelt, but by Dwight Eisenhower, who had a sick bed conversion to the cause whilst recooperating from a little light surgery.
Along the way, the Interstate highway project gave sustenance to a generation of civil engineers and bureaucrats (or "technocrats" as Lewis enjoys calling them). There is little to commend this book to the everyday reader- unless that everyday reader is as infatuated with the interstate highway system
Labels:
September 17, 2021
I read this book in preparation for a book club meeting. I found what I believe to be a balanced introduction to the building of the Interstate Highway System.
The book begins with the background of roads in the United States, with their private, state and federal sponsorship. Much attention is paid to President Eisenhower whose participation in the Army’s 1919 convoy from Washington, D. C. to San Francisco and observation of German autobahns convinced him of the need for improved American highways. During his administration he successfully proposed the Interstate Highway system that has transformed America, both urban and rural.
This work is divided into three parts. The First deals with the history of transportation and the individuals who would set the stage for the Interstate Highway System. The Second chronicles the coalescence of the political will economic forces that enabled the system to be designed, funded and construction to be commenced. The Third addresses the pushback that came as interests, particular in cities opposed routes that threatened to replace neighborhoods, mar landscapes alter the nature of workplaces, residences and urban areas themselves. The funds raised from the fuel tax were fought over by the Highway Lobby and advocates of mass transit and other programs.
Case studies, including the battles over the Proposed Riverfront Expressway in New Orleans and the Big Dig in Boston illustrate the varied goals and forces which contended over the footprint of the system.
I appreciate this tome on several levels. It enables the reader to understand just how big of a transformation the System made in America. It was the largest public works project in American history, tied our communities together like never before and remolded the areas in which we live. It encouraged movement out of cities and into suburbs and exurbs. It made life without a personal automobile very challenging. Author Tom Lewis has crafted a work that is easy to follow, highlights characters who were instrumental in the process but who may be overlooked in more general studies. He is balanced in the sense that he presents both sides but has not created an advocacy piece for one position or another. An example is that he raises the issues that some prefer mass transit over personal automobiles but notes that, when presented with alternatives, many citizens choose their own cars.
A good book makes its readers think. “Divided Highways” passes that test. We are reminded, or instructed, depending on our ages, of life before Interstates. It seems now that the Interstates were inevitable, a Manifest Destiny, if you will, but were they? Should they have been built and, if so, should they have been built differently? Would life have been better if they had never been built or if they had stopped outside of major cities? Even upon reflection I am convinced that they are a national treasure.
The saga of our Interstates reaches into many niches of our social, political, economic and military history. After reading this reconsider the 1960 Democratic campaign to “Get America Moving Again” after the Eisenhower Administration that spawned the Intestates. “Divided Highways” is an excellent read for anyone interested in post-World War II America.
The book begins with the background of roads in the United States, with their private, state and federal sponsorship. Much attention is paid to President Eisenhower whose participation in the Army’s 1919 convoy from Washington, D. C. to San Francisco and observation of German autobahns convinced him of the need for improved American highways. During his administration he successfully proposed the Interstate Highway system that has transformed America, both urban and rural.
This work is divided into three parts. The First deals with the history of transportation and the individuals who would set the stage for the Interstate Highway System. The Second chronicles the coalescence of the political will economic forces that enabled the system to be designed, funded and construction to be commenced. The Third addresses the pushback that came as interests, particular in cities opposed routes that threatened to replace neighborhoods, mar landscapes alter the nature of workplaces, residences and urban areas themselves. The funds raised from the fuel tax were fought over by the Highway Lobby and advocates of mass transit and other programs.
Case studies, including the battles over the Proposed Riverfront Expressway in New Orleans and the Big Dig in Boston illustrate the varied goals and forces which contended over the footprint of the system.
I appreciate this tome on several levels. It enables the reader to understand just how big of a transformation the System made in America. It was the largest public works project in American history, tied our communities together like never before and remolded the areas in which we live. It encouraged movement out of cities and into suburbs and exurbs. It made life without a personal automobile very challenging. Author Tom Lewis has crafted a work that is easy to follow, highlights characters who were instrumental in the process but who may be overlooked in more general studies. He is balanced in the sense that he presents both sides but has not created an advocacy piece for one position or another. An example is that he raises the issues that some prefer mass transit over personal automobiles but notes that, when presented with alternatives, many citizens choose their own cars.
A good book makes its readers think. “Divided Highways” passes that test. We are reminded, or instructed, depending on our ages, of life before Interstates. It seems now that the Interstates were inevitable, a Manifest Destiny, if you will, but were they? Should they have been built and, if so, should they have been built differently? Would life have been better if they had never been built or if they had stopped outside of major cities? Even upon reflection I am convinced that they are a national treasure.
The saga of our Interstates reaches into many niches of our social, political, economic and military history. After reading this reconsider the 1960 Democratic campaign to “Get America Moving Again” after the Eisenhower Administration that spawned the Intestates. “Divided Highways” is an excellent read for anyone interested in post-World War II America.
January 29, 2021
Good-loses steam at the end
Great first half of the book-lots of history on how interstates came to be. The book loses steam in the back third. The author raises questions about where to go with the interstate system now that it’s largely built, and he doesn’t really have any opinions. The tight prose of the first half gives way to overwritten paragraphs in the back half.
A Kindle version note- the typos in the back 50 pages are bad. Possibly the worst I’ve seen in a Kindle version.
Great first half of the book-lots of history on how interstates came to be. The book loses steam in the back third. The author raises questions about where to go with the interstate system now that it’s largely built, and he doesn’t really have any opinions. The tight prose of the first half gives way to overwritten paragraphs in the back half.
A Kindle version note- the typos in the back 50 pages are bad. Possibly the worst I’ve seen in a Kindle version.
January 21, 2021
I don't often rate a book I don't finish.
The kindle version had enough typos by chapter 2 to make me thoroughly annoyed. One of the comparative statistics gave 2 metrics in % and 1 in number (not exactly a helpful set of metrics), and the final straw (which may be another typo) was a reference to "one who 'discovered' America in 1592". False.
I'll be on the look for a different book about the interstate system!
The kindle version had enough typos by chapter 2 to make me thoroughly annoyed. One of the comparative statistics gave 2 metrics in % and 1 in number (not exactly a helpful set of metrics), and the final straw (which may be another typo) was a reference to "one who 'discovered' America in 1592". False.
I'll be on the look for a different book about the interstate system!
February 24, 2012
Good, detailed overview of the building of the Interstate system. I was disappointed that no mention was made of the building of I-20, since that's the Interstate I'm particularly interested in for the book I'm writing - but the points the author loses for overlooking I-20 are gained back by quoting poetry throughout.
August 15, 2022
The first of about six books I need to read for an upcoming college semester, and the only one I could get in audiobook format, I have to say I really enjoyed it.
The book takes the reader through the early years of automobiles and roads, through the period in which auto manufacturers subverted and supplanted bulk transportation modes (trains and busses, for example) and does a good job lightly explaining how we've gone too far.
I think it helped that, while the book was not in any way about Upstate New York specifically, Upstate (and NYC) figured prominently throughout the book for what was built, what went wrong, and how we are paying for it today (and that, surprisingly, includes the 1987 Schoharie Crossing bridging collapse).
As someone who sees the economic and social advantages of small cities (50,000 or less - ish), and lives in a place that was demonstrably negatively affected by the creation of some of these highway (and related byway) systems (and Urban Renewal), I can appreciate the author's position that we put too many of our transportation eggs in the car basket without regard to all of the effects that could result.
Bonus points to the author for including Congress for the New Urbanism and Jane Jacobs!
The book takes the reader through the early years of automobiles and roads, through the period in which auto manufacturers subverted and supplanted bulk transportation modes (trains and busses, for example) and does a good job lightly explaining how we've gone too far.
I think it helped that, while the book was not in any way about Upstate New York specifically, Upstate (and NYC) figured prominently throughout the book for what was built, what went wrong, and how we are paying for it today (and that, surprisingly, includes the 1987 Schoharie Crossing bridging collapse).
As someone who sees the economic and social advantages of small cities (50,000 or less - ish), and lives in a place that was demonstrably negatively affected by the creation of some of these highway (and related byway) systems (and Urban Renewal), I can appreciate the author's position that we put too many of our transportation eggs in the car basket without regard to all of the effects that could result.
Bonus points to the author for including Congress for the New Urbanism and Jane Jacobs!
October 17, 2020
I’ve wanted to read a book about the interstate highway system for a long time, and man I’m glad I finally did. This book covers the interstate system for its roots (which began far before Eisenhower) to Boston’s Big Dig, parts of which weren’t completed until the early 2000s. The only thing I wish this book would have explored more were the effects of the interstates on people of color negatively affected by the construction of the interstates in Urban ares, the author touches on it, but fails to go into detail.
July 21, 2023
Tom Lewis provides a detailed history of America’s love affair with the automobile and its impact on economic and societal development.
The title seems a misnomer in that highways serve as a unifier, connecting whole communities and ultimately altering the national outlook.
It is an interesting book and offers enough detail for a thorough coverage of something people who appreciate lots of detail.
The title seems a misnomer in that highways serve as a unifier, connecting whole communities and ultimately altering the national outlook.
It is an interesting book and offers enough detail for a thorough coverage of something people who appreciate lots of detail.
November 11, 2016
No engineering project in the United States is more impressive than the interstate system; dense with the connections of a street grid, it serves not blocks but an entire continent. In Divided Highways, Tom Lewis tells the story of that system's creation, inside a broader history of how motoring in general transformed American life. Lewis principally concerns himself with the political rise of the highways, and the problems that followed once the ideal became a reality and people realized that reality comes with smells, noises, shadows, and bills. Lewis connects the drama of the highways with ever-changing American society as a whole. though, integrating their story in which whatever else was happening (the oil crises of the 1970s, for instance) and commenting on the morphing nature of urbanism as downtowns bled out into the broad puddles of edge cities. Though Lewis is enamored of the interstate, motoring, and the American dedication to constant motion, he doesn't shy away from giving critics a voice.
The story of the highways begins with the automobile, of course, since before then road building wasn't a priority: given the distances involved. water transportation dominated until the train made overland transit more competitive. The rising popularity of automobiles and bicycles -- an individualistic alternative to crowded trolleys and trains controlled by some of the more powerful corporations of the day-- led to a demand for places to use them, and no road is worth much if it doesn't connect you to other roads going other places. Enter Thomas Harris MacDonald, an intensely thorough, dedicated, and prudent fellow who would dominate the Bureau of Public Roads from the Wilson administration to that of Eisenhower's. MacDonald's prudence was such that he only built roads when they were deemed immediately necessary -- much different from today's build-it-and-they-will-come-and-pay-taxes attitude. Although not aggressive, his thoroughness did produce sketches of what a national highway system might look like, and how it might be ordered. Such a system was well underway when he died in retirement, his own fledging highways being supplanted by the limited access freeways that now create a massive asphalt circulatory system for the nation.
Building interstates involved a bit of juggling of responsibility between the state governments and D.C, and this became particularly thorny in regards to cities. The interstate system didn't just connect cities; from the beginning, many cut through cities themselves, becoming a kind of rapid transit system. When President Eisenhower became entangled in freeway construction enroute to Camp David, he made a few terse inquiries as to who was responsible for plowing this great road into the city, whereupon some Nathan-like figure informed him...Mr. President, thou art the man. (Apparently, the interstate bill he signed was one of the 'we have to pass it to see what's in it' variety....) Running interstates through cities proved the source of most of the system's political problems, as the city spans became quickly congested, occupied large swathes of formerly tax-paying real estate, and functioned as a massive wall running through the cheapest real estate that could be found...that of the poor, who became poorer still when industry began following the interstate out of the city. In New Orleans, the destruction of the French Quarter's charm by an interstate was narrowly avoided by citizen protests, and in our own time other cities (San Francisco, for instance) have gone to the mattresses to get rid of view-obstructing spurs.
As mentioned, Lewis also comments on the ongoing transformation of American society, the rise of franchise chain stores and the like. This was done with far more detail in Asphalt Nation, but presumably he wanted to write on something more than the exciting world of transportation finance. The connections made to broader US history -- the anti-interstate reaction concurring with the civil rights movement and youth rebellion -- not only make the history more 'personable', but provide welcome context. The subtitle of 'transforming American society' isn't a big component of the book, though, and he doesn't mention influences of the freeway on other transportation infrastructure in general, like the worrisome tendency of larger roads to mimic interstates even though it's dangerous to encourage higher speeds in areas with pedestrians, buildings, and cross traffic.
Useful as a history of how the interstates happened, Divided Highways deserves praise for hailing the interstate system while simultaneously delivering the stories of people disrupted by it and rebelling against it.
"We could do anything, then, and do it to excess; our Interstates boldly proclaimed the triumph of engineering. Like our cars, whose fins could not be too high, they made a statement with adolescent vigor. We thought little of the Interstate's ability to rend the landscape, to divide communities, and to alienate citizens. The roads were a concrete snapshot of ourselves when we believed nothing was beyond our reach."
Related:
Asphalt Nation, Jane Holtz Keay
Getting There: the Epic Battle Between Road and Rails, Stephen Goddard
The Geography of Nowhere, James Kunstler
The story of the highways begins with the automobile, of course, since before then road building wasn't a priority: given the distances involved. water transportation dominated until the train made overland transit more competitive. The rising popularity of automobiles and bicycles -- an individualistic alternative to crowded trolleys and trains controlled by some of the more powerful corporations of the day-- led to a demand for places to use them, and no road is worth much if it doesn't connect you to other roads going other places. Enter Thomas Harris MacDonald, an intensely thorough, dedicated, and prudent fellow who would dominate the Bureau of Public Roads from the Wilson administration to that of Eisenhower's. MacDonald's prudence was such that he only built roads when they were deemed immediately necessary -- much different from today's build-it-and-they-will-come-and-pay-taxes attitude. Although not aggressive, his thoroughness did produce sketches of what a national highway system might look like, and how it might be ordered. Such a system was well underway when he died in retirement, his own fledging highways being supplanted by the limited access freeways that now create a massive asphalt circulatory system for the nation.
Building interstates involved a bit of juggling of responsibility between the state governments and D.C, and this became particularly thorny in regards to cities. The interstate system didn't just connect cities; from the beginning, many cut through cities themselves, becoming a kind of rapid transit system. When President Eisenhower became entangled in freeway construction enroute to Camp David, he made a few terse inquiries as to who was responsible for plowing this great road into the city, whereupon some Nathan-like figure informed him...Mr. President, thou art the man. (Apparently, the interstate bill he signed was one of the 'we have to pass it to see what's in it' variety....) Running interstates through cities proved the source of most of the system's political problems, as the city spans became quickly congested, occupied large swathes of formerly tax-paying real estate, and functioned as a massive wall running through the cheapest real estate that could be found...that of the poor, who became poorer still when industry began following the interstate out of the city. In New Orleans, the destruction of the French Quarter's charm by an interstate was narrowly avoided by citizen protests, and in our own time other cities (San Francisco, for instance) have gone to the mattresses to get rid of view-obstructing spurs.
As mentioned, Lewis also comments on the ongoing transformation of American society, the rise of franchise chain stores and the like. This was done with far more detail in Asphalt Nation, but presumably he wanted to write on something more than the exciting world of transportation finance. The connections made to broader US history -- the anti-interstate reaction concurring with the civil rights movement and youth rebellion -- not only make the history more 'personable', but provide welcome context. The subtitle of 'transforming American society' isn't a big component of the book, though, and he doesn't mention influences of the freeway on other transportation infrastructure in general, like the worrisome tendency of larger roads to mimic interstates even though it's dangerous to encourage higher speeds in areas with pedestrians, buildings, and cross traffic.
Useful as a history of how the interstates happened, Divided Highways deserves praise for hailing the interstate system while simultaneously delivering the stories of people disrupted by it and rebelling against it.
"We could do anything, then, and do it to excess; our Interstates boldly proclaimed the triumph of engineering. Like our cars, whose fins could not be too high, they made a statement with adolescent vigor. We thought little of the Interstate's ability to rend the landscape, to divide communities, and to alienate citizens. The roads were a concrete snapshot of ourselves when we believed nothing was beyond our reach."
Related:
Asphalt Nation, Jane Holtz Keay
Getting There: the Epic Battle Between Road and Rails, Stephen Goddard
The Geography of Nowhere, James Kunstler
October 9, 2019
An incredibly thorough history of the US interstate highway system. Which leads to examination of US population migration, cities and suburban development, because none of this happens in a vacuum.
This is not a "fast read." A great deal to absorb and learn. Gets somewhat preachy near the end but still a very worthwhile book.
This is not a "fast read." A great deal to absorb and learn. Gets somewhat preachy near the end but still a very worthwhile book.
July 19, 2024
A good overview of the topic. I found it a little dry during the early-going- I was more interested in the social aspects than the political and engineering aspects - but an interesting read nonetheless. Definitely no a page-turner, and I found it very easy to put down, but at no point did I consider not finishing it.
March 19, 2019
This is a companion to a documentary. It is a straightforward history of the interstates although the "transforming American life" invests in the interstates alone changes that have many more causes than the superhighways.
June 18, 2022
Having crisscrossed our nation all directions many times I found this book very interesting and certainly well researched. The narrative flowed. Since retirement, however I studiously avoid the interstates even though it is hard to find a motel or a good Mom and Pop cafe.
November 12, 2021
Little bit dated. Could use an update.
July 15, 2022
Interesting facts about our roads, highways, and interstates.
February 4, 2025
Fascinating story
June 20, 2025
earth shattering for white civil engineers everywhere
November 30, 2025
Plenty of conversation material for long drives
July 1, 2022
A good read
The book offers an engaging history that is a good starting point for the study of the Interstate Highway System and its impact on American culture and environment.
The frequent typos are troublesome, occasionally making me doubt what I just read.
The book offers an engaging history that is a good starting point for the study of the Interstate Highway System and its impact on American culture and environment.
The frequent typos are troublesome, occasionally making me doubt what I just read.
December 2, 2016
Pretty solid overview of the building of America's highways. I've read too many of these to be overly impressed with new material or to learn to much (yes, that sounds snobby). Overall the ideas presented are well researched and constructed. Overall I was hoping for more socio economic and the politics. I have had enough of the engineering and actual construction.
December 30, 2009
I was interested mostly in the sociological aspects of building the interstate highway system -- the politics, decision-making process, and how it affected society. There was enough of that to keep me interested, but also plenty of info about the construction.
January 4, 2010
Lewis's study is one of the most thorough and thought-provoking of the many treatments of American "road history" -- it brings to light the very real sociological effects of roads on our cities, towns, and countryside. If you enjoy road memoirs/travelogues, read this for excellent context.
February 2, 2012
A little dreary here and there. It seemed repetitive. A lot of focus on bureaucrats and plodding processes. Still, it is a subject about which I've always been interested and the book delivered the goods.
January 3, 2014
A lovely, if slightly depressing , history of ground transportation in the US. It starts with Eisenhower and meanders through history from there. Lewis even touches on racial politics and the power of grassroots movements. Overall, it was a satisfying read.
June 3, 2014
If you are into bridges, roads, tunnels, transportation, engineering and/or politics mixed with a bit of history, this book is for you. Very interesting.
It is however very wordy. Informative but dry.
It is however very wordy. Informative but dry.
September 23, 2014
Pretty fascinating look into something used by almost every single American on a daily basis but taken completely for granted at this point. Somehow the author managed to make fairly boring parts of history into a really enjoyable and lively read.. quite a feat indeed!
December 25, 2007
A decent history of the development of the US Interstate system. Not as critical as one might expect.
September 7, 2008
Big, cheesy pop history that tells you everything you ever wanted to know about the interstate highway system, which in my case is a lot.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews