You’ll find regular and diesel at the fuel pump, and most of them even have EV charging stations. You’ll now find fast-food chains, stores, and restrooms. Most toll plazas are now privately owned. In the last 20-30 years, the rest areas on the toll roads have stepped up their game. Therefore Main Street doesn’t suffer because the Turnpike has enough potholes to film a Moon Movie. So Ike’s Highway Act and a few minor bills beforehand introduced a gas tax to maintain roadways.Įven after the gas tax, the tolls for highways that see high volumes separate their costs from the surface streets. The state governments needed a way to keep the money flowing into the road’s accounts to keep them going.

Selling bonds could only do so much to generate enough money for the construction and maintenance of these vital roads. Pre- and post-World War II, these various toll roads were major arteries for these industrial states. Since the toll roads were the foundation sections of I-90, the 1956 Federal Highway Act allowed the states to maintain the “rules of the road” before they became the cornerstones of the interstate. In that case, you’d pay $99.61 using an in-state electronic transponder or $122.26 using cash or the pay-by-plate billing method for all the tolls (as of August 1, 2021). For example, suppose you traveled from Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts, heading west to the Wisconsin State line towing a single axle travel trailer (making you a 3 axle vehicle/medium truck). Of the 3,020.44 miles that make up I-90, 1,046.12 miles exist as toll roads. The eastern half of I-90 is mostly a collection of toll roads. Road approval requests in the 1960s didn’t see many toll road requests. Many of the requests came from the eastern states. In the give-and-take between the legislative and executive branches, the federal government would pay most of the bill to build the road, but it was up to the states to maintain them.ĭuring the 1950s, as the Highway Act was solidifying, the states that sent in their requests for approval on toll roads had a good chance of support from the Federal Highway Administration. These pay-as-you-go roads would fund themselves and other routes for maintenance and future expansion plans.Įisenhower’s goal was to have freeways (non-tolled highways) instead of toll roads. During this time, many of the eastern states were building new highways with tolls. It used highways that were either already open or were in the process of getting built. Interstate 90 was one of the original expressways in the 1956 Act. The original map of the interstate system. Read more about other legislation that occurred right before this bill in our article on Motorized Vintage RVs. The federal government would pay 90% of the costs of these expressways through a 3 cents per gallon gas tax (today, it’s 18.4 cents per gallon for unleaded and 24.4 cents for diesel). It authorized 41,000 miles of an interstate highway network with roads that could support heavier weights, more direct travel for quicker travel, and higher speeds. President Eisenhower achieved his goal on June 29, 1956, when Congress approved the Federal Highway Act of 1956. If the Soviet threat were to attack, moving military assets needed to be moved to position quickly. Ike knew that a sound highway system wasn’t just a civilian issue for commercial needs and quickly getting to point A to point B. As an American General in World War II and NATO General, he had experience moving troops around Europe quickly on the well-built roads that dated back to the Romans. Eisenhower remembered that grueling trip. Colonel became the 34th United States President, Dwight D. × Thank you for subscribing to the Camper Smarts newsletter, keep your eye on your inbox for updates.

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