Reflections on the Inter-State Anniversary

It interested me to hear on Thursday that it has been 50 years since the beginnings of the Inter-State Highway system. In some ways, it seems we have always had these highways, but then I remember in school that they talked about what our highways would look like in the future, and we kids could not imagine what they were telling us. The teacher talked about “clover leafs” to manage traffic, and “exits”. It didn’t make much sense to us. I was 9 when President Eisenhower (who always seemed to be president, we couldn’t imagine anyone else being President back then either!), signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 that created what we have today.

A few years later, the Inter-State highway came to our area. Inter-State Route 15 was built from Harrisburg, PA right past our little towns, one town our high school was located. I remember when they were building it; it went through farm land, passing Dillsburg, York Springs and past Gettysburg going down into Maryland.
We would come to find out what they meant by “clover leafs”, as we starting using the clover leaf to go a faster way to Harrisburg and Gettysburg. After I had my license I drove Inter-State Route 15 quite frequently!

When I came to Minnesota in 1969, the Inter-State had not made its way up to Northern Minnesota yet. It’s kind of neat to think that I also watched that highway being built here a few years later. Our first few trips to Minneapolis after our marriage took a lot longer, going through all the towns, than it did after Inter-State 35 was built. Now we can hop on I-35 and drive the whole way to Texas if we want!

At first I-35 was built only to Mesaba Avenue, just at the edge of the city. I remember the fuss this city had about that “freeway” being built. There was an organization called “Stop the Freeway”. The construction was stopped at Mesaba because there was so much division over where the route should go after it got to Duluth ... over the hill, by the lake, or not at all? Thankfully, the “not at all” was not the winner. It was quite a few years later, a compromise was finally made and after two extensions, we now have the highway going through Duluth to 26th Avenue East, running along Lake Superior. I’m glad it is by the lake because it is a beautiful sight to see the lake when we are driving. I drive 26th to downtown everyday and I love the route and the view!

Also, I’m sure I’m not the only one to say it is very nice to be able to drive I-35 from Duluth to St. Paul and Minneapolis in 2 ½ hours!