Yesterday during a slow moment at work I happened to look up the history of the Interstate system on Wikipedia. (Yes, I know this is geekery of an entirely unthought of depth. But stay with me anyway.) You may know that Eisenhower was influential in the creation of the system. What you might not know is that a previous cross country trip convinced him of its need.
In 1919, right after the Great War, the military decided to test how well they could move troops in the US from coast to coast. A convoy of 81 vehicles left Washington DC on July 7 and arrived in San Fran on September 6. A mere 62 days.
Along the way they lost nine vehicles. 273 men started the trip. 21 were injured during the trip and were left behind. Seriously, that sounds like something from Oregon Trail. The next year they did it again, this time going to San Diego. This trip took a more southerly route and took 111 days.
Google maps suggests that the same trip today can be done in 46 hours. (No mention is made of the caffeine needed for such a trip.) The trip to San Diego is a bit shorter, 43 hours.
Times sure have changed.
3 comments:
To be fair, this was to test the roads, rather than the railroads that were then in vogue. The point still stands, however; as the most "motorized" country in the world, we were awful.
Whether or not the interstate system remains awful is up to the individual driver today, of course. I remain uncrazed about Los Angeles, for some strange reason.
Andrew, that's very true. If they redid this today the losses wouldn't be nearly as large.
You know, I'm not really sure about that; it depends how many of the Guardsmen stopped off at various fast food places to supplement their MREs along the way.
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