New Highways Radically Changed America. Much More Radical Change Is Just Ahead

From Flying Cars to Fast Food: The Cultural Fallout of Better Roads

My latest novel, one I hope to publish before year’s end, is based on a college summer I spent traveling the U.S. with an automobile daredevil stunt show.  The daredevil drivers performed at state fairs, race speedways and other venues, crashing cars, jumping them off wooden ramps at high speed and scaring large crowds with other feats you hope no one in your family ever tries to replicate.

Ford, Chevrolet and Dodge all sponsored auto thrill shows. They were popular for decades. If you’ve never experienced one, here are some YouTube links that will take you back in time and give you a glimpse of the action.

My novel is set in 1957, requiring me to take a deep research dive back into that era to establish an authentic background for my story and its characters. The time coincided with the congressional decision to build the interstate highway system, a longstanding plan to move people and goods quickly and safely coast-to-coast.

Even having lived through that era myself, I was surprised to learn through my research how dramatically that decision to improve the nation’s road system changed life in America. Developments that few saw coming.

For example:

With safer and more reliable highways, people began traveling more for pleasure. That required new places for travelers to sleep overnight, spurring development of Holiday Inns and other chains we now know as motels. 

Travelers also needed to eat along the way. That prompted rapid expansion of fast food restaurant chains like McDonald’s, KFC, IHOP at rest stops.

The Chain Reaction: How a Single Congressional Vote Reshaped America

With more reliable roads, trucks could deliver more inventory faster to retail stores. Sam Walton and other developers quickly took note. That birthed big box stores like Wal-Mart resulting in the hollowing out of locally owned, smaller, community retailers that could not compete on price or selection.

Many new highways bypassed small cities that once were regular road stops for travelers. Rural America lost much of its small downtown business, and with it, population and character.

Better roads meant that workers could live further away from their city jobs. Thus, the creation of the suburban boom. 

More cars meant the need for more fuel, more tires, more car insurance. Countless new industries and services were created. Rail freight became less competitive. Many longtime urban neighborhoods were demolished to make room for the urban ramps that replaced them. Car “cultures” blossomed, affecting societal behavior.

Because of the decision to improve the highway system, much of America changed radically--where people lived, the cost of housing and other goods, where and how people worked. Priorities changed, and with those changes, what people considered politically important changed as well.

Then and Now: What Today’s Emerging Tech Has in Common With 1950s Infrastructure

So how is the 1950s decision to build the interstate highway system relevant to today? If that decision could change America so radically, consider the decisions being made now and looming  just ahead.

Decisions about artificial intelligence, robotics, designer babies, targeted health therapies, urban agriculture, unlimited energy from fusion, solar, wind, geothermal, even from thin air itself. 

What unforeseen developments will occur from those decisions? What unintended consequences?

Only science fiction writers likely can imagine it.

Comments? Criticism? Contact Joe Rothstein at jrothstein@rothstein.net

Always Get It’s Always Something

Sign up to get the most recent column set to your inbox for free.

→ SUBSCRIBE