We take freeways for granted today, but you might remember the way travel across this vast country transformed in the 1950s and 1960s, when a new network of interstate highways linked Americans to even the most remote locations.
In the 1950s, travel times were a major topic of conversation. Traveling from one state to another used to be an arduous task of mapping routes along county roads, all dotted with one small town (or big city) after another. Lots of stops and lots of delays. You never really knew the quality of the road.
So the journey was a perennial topic of conversation. Dad would brag to Uncle: I found a little cutoff just south of Poughkeepsie that saved me an hour, but it was gravel. And Uncle would tell Dad: I know the one! But don't take it when it rains.
But that all changed. Suddenly, you could drive on the freeway all day with no stops. Long trips shortened by hours or even days as interstate highways bypassed cities great and small.
Driving was definitely faster, but some say it was also less interesting. The rise of interstates also led to the decline of small cities and businesses along old routes.
The most famous decline was the storied and romantic Route 66, which ran from Illinois to Los Angeles in a diagonal route that stretched 2,448 miles. Millions of people traveled that route to move to California, and vacationers traditionally stopped at the Painted Desert and Grand Canyon. Roadside curio shops and restaurants made it a tourist attraction. But eventually more direct routes and better roads supplanted it.
Many sections of Route 66 are now part of the National Register of Historic Places. You can still drive many sections and see some of the notable places, both glamorous and kitschy, where Americans go during their adventures.
