2006-08-22 10:25:15 · 9 answers · asked by trashbrat 2 in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
The highway system was designed for rapid evacuation, and movements of weapons; missles and missle launchers for example. However, it was NOT meant for an emergency airstrip.
All bridges over highways were all built high enough that missle launchers were able to pass through...BUT never was there an "one out of five miles" rule.
"Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956. This piece of legislation committed the federal government to build what became the 42,800-mile Eisenhower Interstate Highway System, which makes it the logical item to cite concerning regulations about how the interstate highway system was to be laid out. The act did not, however, contain any "one-in-five" requirement, nor did it even suggest the use of stretches of the interstate system as emergency landing strips. The one-out-of-five rule was not part of any later legislation either." ***Snopes.com***
HOWEVER, as I stated before, the highway system has alternative uses.
"Dual-purpose design
In addition to being designed to support automobile and heavy truck traffic, interstate highways are also designed for use in military and civil defense operations within the United States, particularly troop movements. However, it is not the case, as is often believed, that the highway system was designed to support aircraft landings (see the section on Interstate trivia below).
One potential civil defense use of the Interstate Highway System is for the emergency evacuation of cities in the event of a potential nuclear war. The Interstate Highway System has been used to facilitate evacuations in the face of hurricanes and other natural disasters. An option for maximizing throughput is to reverse the flow of traffic on one side so that all lanes become outbound lanes. This procedure, known as Contraflow, was employed in 2005 in the evacuations of New Orleans, Louisiana and Houston, Texas prior to hurricanes Katrina and Rita, respectively. Several Interstates in the South, including I-16 in Georgia, I-40 in North Carolina, I-65 in Alabama, I-10, I-12, I-55 & I-59 in Louisiana, and I-55 & I-59 in Mississippi, are equipped and signed specifically for contraflow, with crossovers inland after major interchanges to distribute much of the traffic. (This is however not limited to Interstates; State Road 528 in Central Florida has the same setup.)"
***Wikipedia***
2006-08-22 10:33:36 · answer #1 · answered by jpklla 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Becaue Dwight D. Eisenhower made this decision for military purposes, in the even we are ever invaded. It is so that airplanes will always have a place to take off and land. There are other reasons as well, but I won't get into that here.
2006-08-22 10:29:27 · answer #2 · answered by Rebecca 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That's not true. There are lots of highways that have to wind because of the terrain.
2006-08-22 10:27:55 · answer #3 · answered by Jim 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
So that those stretches can be used as a runway for aircraft if the need arises.
2006-08-22 10:29:02 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Rebecca is corrrect, that it why all interstates are "the Eisenhower interstate system"
2006-08-22 10:33:07 · answer #5 · answered by nflhandicapper 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i think your ? is wrong, Straight road causes road hypnosis they have to put a curve in to keep you busy
2006-08-22 10:36:00 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Republicans want to keep them straight and not Gay.
2006-08-22 10:28:14 · answer #7 · answered by Tommy D 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
One of my favorite urban legends...
http://www.snopes.com/autos/law/airstrip.asp
2006-08-22 11:07:32 · answer #8 · answered by a_man_could_stand 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
not so well not on hwy.county Q in northwest wisc.
2006-08-22 10:51:31 · answer #9 · answered by mike L 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋