Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956

Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956
Great Seal of the United States
Other short titles
  • Highway Construction Act
  • National Interstate and Defense Highways Act
Long titleAn act to amend and supplement the Federal Aid Road Act approved July 11, 1956, to authorize appropriations for continuing the construction of highways; to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 to provide additional revenue from taxes on motor fuel, tires, and trucks and buses; and for other purposes.
Acronyms (colloquial)FAHA
NicknamesHighway Revenue Act of 1956
Enacted bythe 84th United States Congress
EffectiveJune 29, 1956
Citations
Public law84-627
Statutes at Large70 Stat. 374
Codification
Titles amended
U.S.C. sections created
Legislative history
  • Introduced in the House as H.R. 10660 by George Fallon (D–MD) on April 19, 1956
  • Passed the House on April 27, 1956 (388–19)
  • Passed the Senate on May 29, 1956 (41–39)
  • Reported by the joint conference committee on June 22, 1956; agreed to by the House on June 22, 1956 (adopted) and by the Senate on June 22, 1956 (89–1)
  • Signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on June 29, 1956

The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, also known as the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act, Pub. L. 84–627 was enacted on June 29, 1956, when President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the bill into law. With an original authorization of $25 billion (equivalent to $215 billion in 2023)[1] for the construction of 41,000 miles (66,000 km) of the Interstate Highway System over a 10-year period, it was the largest public works project in American history through that time.[2]

The addition of the term defense in the act's title was because some of the original cost was diverted from defense funds and "because of [the Interstate Highway System']s primary importance to the national defense".

The money for the Interstate Highway and Defense Highways was handled in a Highway Trust Fund that paid for 90 percent of highway construction costs with the states required to pay the remaining 10 percent. It was expected that the money would be generated through new taxes on fuel, automobiles, trucks, and tires. As a matter of practice, the federal portion of the cost of the Interstate Highway System has been paid for by taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel.[3]

  1. ^ Johnston, Louis; Williamson, Samuel H. (2023). "What Was the U.S. GDP Then?". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved November 30, 2023. United States Gross Domestic Product deflator figures follow the MeasuringWorth series.
  2. ^ Weingroff, Richard F. (Summer 1996). "Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, Creating the Interstate System". Public Roads. 60 (1). Federal Highway Administration. Retrieved August 25, 2015.
  3. ^ Federal Highway Administration (September 15, 1999). "Financing Federal-Aid Highways". Federal Highway Administration. FHWA-PL-99-015. Retrieved September 10, 2008.