Skip navigation
The Simple Genius of the Interstate Highway System
Video

The Simple Genius of the Interstate Highway System



Editorial Rating

10

Qualities

  • Eye Opening
  • Background
  • Engaging

Recommendation

Citizens of developed countries take roads for granted, but if you’re a US citizen, your life would almost certainly be worse without the roadways that make up the US interstate highway system. In this educational Wendover Productions video, Sam Denby describes the massive political will that had to come into play before the United States would build infrastructure making up the interstate highway system, and the effects that system has on Americans today. As Denby says, “In the context of nations, connectivity is power.”

Take-Aways

  • In July 1919, an expedition set out from the White House to assess transcontinental roadways. On reaching San Francisco 62 days later, they’d found road quality to be suboptimal.
  • In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower rallied the political will to build an interstate highway system.
  • The design standards that guided the interstate highway system are simple, but the lasting effects of the system are monumental.

About the Speaker

Sam Denby is the creator of Wendover Productions, an educational YouTube channel. The channel has over three million subscribers.