The Accelerated Program
The Starting Point
To the public, the accelerated program for building the Interstate System as announced in 1956 was obviously a big job, but not necessarily complex. Perhaps this thinking derived from the characteristic development of a toll road—a one-route project, all starting from scratch, all on new location, all built in a short period of time, and all under the management of a single agency, with all the money available at the beginning or as needed.
But the Interstate program was being accomplished by 49 States and the District of Columbia (there are no Interstate routes in Alaska), in cooperation with the Federal Bureau of Public Roads. Cities, counties, and towns had a direct interest in how routes were to be (or were not) located to serve them; and while toll roads characteristically approach but do not enter the cities, the Interstate System would, and at the same time would serve large volumes of the local traffic load. Not all Interstate routes were starting from the same status of development in 1956. Some sections, indeed, were already completed, although these were mostly toll roads. Some others were in varied stages of development—a two-lane highway needing expansion to four lanes; an expressway lacking full control of access or needing additional grade separations or lanes. About four-fifths of the Interstate mileage was destined to be built on new location, but some would follow an existing highway, perhaps using it as one of its separated pairs of directional roadways.
The alinement of I-280 in densely populated northern New Jersey was carefully selected to have a minimal impact on the established neighborhoods and existing traffic patterns.
