Wartime shortages stalled the manufacture of many goods in the United States, including automobiles. When raw materials again became available in 1947, automobile production boomed. Americans were driving more cars more places than ever before, and the need for more and better roadways became apparent.
The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 subsidized 90% of interstate highway construction in every state, and initiated the greatest surge in road construction in history.
By 1967 nearly 360 miles of freeway had opened to traffic statewide, and between the years 1958 and 1969 a total of 159 miles of multi-lane freeway was built in the seven-country metropolitan area. Major projects included:
I-35W, a four-lane highway running from Duluth through the Twin Cities to Iowa, was proposed by the National Interregional Highway Committee in 1944, with the first 8-mile section in Minnesota opening in 1958 near Owatonna.
I-94, stretching from Hudson, Wisconsin to Moorhead, Minnesota, which would provide an express thoroughfare between Minneapolis and St. Paul, was approved in 1947 and completed in 1968.
Crosstown Highway/Crosstown Commons, running from Highway 100 to Highway 55 at Fort Snelling, and connecting with I-35W in a common stretch, which would provide a bypass around the city and give motorists convenient access to the airport, was approved in 1956 and completed in 1966.
Creator: Norton & Peel
Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society
Date: 1958
Identifer: location NP255204
